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nvi 



Sketch Map of Central Mexico. 



Ipapers of l^e ^rdjatlogunl |iistitaie of l^merita. 

'I 

AMERICAN SERIES. 
II. 



REPORT 



AN ARCH^OLOGICAL TOUR IN MEXICO, 



In i88i. 



BY 



A. F. BANDELIER. 




BOSTON: 

33ul)irs!i)eti for tlje Enstftute Iij 
CUPPLES, UPHAM, AND COMPANY. 

LONDON: N, TRUBNER AND CO. 
1884. 



n o '7. b 



.^^ 



^"^ 



L 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA. 



iSxecutt&e €ammittez, 1883-84. 

CHARLES ELIOT NORTON, President. 
MARTIN BRIMMER, Vice-President. 
FRANCIS PARKMAN. 
W. W. GOODWIN. 
H. W. HAYNES. 
CHARLES S. BRADLEY. 
STEPHEN SALISBURY, Jr. 
HENRY L. HIGGINSON, Treasurer. 
E. H. GREENLEAF, Secretary. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

I. From Tampico to the City of Mexico , 3 

II. Notes about the City of Mexico 49 

III. Studies about Cholula and its Vicinity ..... 79 

IV. An Excursion to Mitla 263 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Plate I. Sketch-Map of Part of Mexico .... Frontispiece 

II. Mount Orizaba from Vera Cruz. Frotn a 

Photograph i6 

III. Houses of the Natives on the Coast. From a 

Photograph 21 

IV. The Stone of the Sun. From a Photograph . . 54 
V. Huitzilopochtli. From a Photograph 59 

VI. The Sacrificial Stone. Fro7n a Photograph . . 67 

VII. The Indio Triste. From a Photograph .... 68 

VIII. YzTAC-TEPETL, from the East. From a Photograph 100 

IX. PoPOCA-TEPETL, FROM PuEBLA. From a Photograph . 102 

X. Fig. I. Mexican Plough 96 

2-6. House of Tepoztecatl 124-127 

7. Stone Cross 126 

8, 9. Roof and Ceiling 125-127 

10. Two Houses 129 

II, 12. Elevations of the Same 128 

13. Doorway of Same 129 

14-18. Thatched Roofs 129 

19. House at Cuauhtlantzinco 128 

XI. Fig. I. Map of the District of Cholula 254 

2, 3. Vapor Bath 158 

4-6. Drums 152 



viu LIST OF JLLL'STRATIOyS. 

XII. Doorway, San Andres Cholula. From a Photo- 
graph 225 

XIII. Fig. I. Cerro de Acozac. Plan and Section .... 22S 

::. Cerro de la Cruz. Plan and Section .... 229 

3. Ruins of Staircase. JMound of Cholula . . . 240 

4. Elevation of the Mound of Cholula. Restored . 246 

5. Plan of the Mound of Cholula, Restored . . . 246 

6. Profile of the Hill Teoton 252 

7. Profile of the Hill Tetlyollotl 252 

S. Profile of the Hill Tzapotecas 252 

9. Heraldic Representation of the iMound of Cholula 243 

10. Plan of Part of Cholula . 220 

XIV. Plan of the Great Mound of Cholula .... 234 
XV. Fac-Simile of an Old Sfanish Plan of Cholula 

X\'I. The Great IMound of Cholula. — General View z},;^ 

X\'I1. General Plan of the Ruins of Mitla. — •■ Lvd- 

Baa " 277 

XVIll. Groups A, B, C, and D. — Plans 279-291 

XIX. View of the Church (Group A) and of Group B. 

From a Photograph 277 

XX. \'iEW of Groups R and C. From a Photograph . 277 

XXI. \"iEW OF the Northwest Corner of Group B. From 

ii Photograph -94 

XXII. Interior of the Pillared Hall (B II.). From a 

Photograph -S3 

XXIII. South Front of C I. From a Photograph . . . 2S5 

XXIV. Details of Group B. 
Fia;. I. Northwest Corner of B I -04 

=95 
:9s 

4. Southern Entrance to the Same -oS 

5. Central Doorway, B II. From the Inside . 29S 

6. The Same. North Side of Northern Pier . 299 

7. The Same North Side of Southern Pier . 299 



2. East Wall of South Room. B I. ... 

3. Northern Entrance to Narrow Passage in B I. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ix 

8. Roof of Northwest Corner of B I. Section . 301 

9. The Same, Elevation 301 

ID. Carving on Lintel of B 1 299 

II. Mosaic Ornament from B 1 299 

Details of Group C. 

Fig. 12. East Side of Door Pier, CI 

13. North Side of Pier, Central Doorway, C II. . 300 

14. Plan of Basement, CI 285 

15. Ceiling of Basement, CI. ....... 302 

16. Side Elevation of C I. . 285 

17. Front Elevation of Basement, CI 285 

18. Niche in C 1 297 

19. Stone Ornament in Basement, C 1 299 

20. West Side of Entrance, C 1 294 

21. Carving on Lintel, C II 299 

22. Two Doorways of C II, from the Inside . . 299 

XXV. Figs. 1-4. Fragments of Paintings upon Stucco, D I. . 300 

5. Carved Slab 3oS 

6. Group E 288 

7. Section of E III 288 

8. Group F 289 

9. Section of F IV 290 

XXVI. Xaga 

Fig. I. Plan of Mounds at Xagd. 309 

2. Plan of Basement 310 

3. Section of the Same 3'° 

4. Ornaments in Stone • • 31° 

5. Mounds between Xaga and Mitla .... 309 
FUERTE Di Mitla. — " Jio." 

Fig. 6. General Plan 3ii 

7. Details of Houses. Plans 3^2 

S. Double Wall 3ii 

9. Abutment Wall S^i 

Tlacolula. — " Gui-y-Baa." 

Fig. 10. General Plan 3^5 

11. Chamber in Stone Mound 31^ 

12. Remains of Stone Steps 3^6 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Monte Alhan. 

Fig. 13, General Plan 318 

14. Broken Lintel 31S 



ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT. 

Fig. I. Stone Relief from Orizaba 26 

2. The Snake- Wall 71 

3. Arch Construction at Cholulu 116 



Such of the Illustrations as are not reproductions of photographs 
are from drawings by the author. 



AN 



ARCH^OLOGICAL RECONNOISSANCE 



INTO 



MEXICO, 

IN THE YEAR 1881. 



AN 



ARCH.-EOLOGICAL RECONNOISSANCE 
INTO MEXICO, IN THE YEAR 1881. 



T* 



Part I. 

FROM TAMPICO TO THE CITY OF MEXICO. 

^O the eye of an uninterested traveller the gulf-coast of 
IMexico, between the mouth of the Rio Grande del 
Norte and the bar of the Rio Panuco near the city of 
Tampico, presents but few attractive features. In contrast 
to the lovely blue or green sea, often calm and placid, an 
arid sandy shore lines the western horizon ; it is low and 
barren, and only when the Rio Panuco is approached do 
mountains begin to rise in the distance. The most easterly 
spur of the Sierra IMadre Oriental,^ after forming succes- 
sively the limits between the States o:^ Puebla and Hidalgo 
and the State of Vera Cruz, crosses the southeastern corner 
of San Luis, and enters the State of Tamaulipas almost 
due east of Tampico. The eastern slope of this mountain 
chain, proceeding northwestward, still further recedes from 
the coast ; and it is this broad interval, between mountain 
and sea, which constitutes the main portion of Tamaulipas. 
A little more than one and one half degrees of latitude of the 
whole area of Tamaulipas lies within the tropics. Vegetation, 
while luxuriant in places, is generally scant. Although one 
of the larger States of the Mexican Union, its population in 

1 I have adopted this name from the maps of my friend Don Antonio Garcia- 
Cubas. The coast-range itself bears, of course, various local denominations in 
various places. 



4 ARCH.-EOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

1S7S amounted only to 144,747 souls, of which 11,682 be- 
longed to Tampico alone. ^ 

The mouth of the Rio Panuco was visited at an early period 
in the Spanish conquest, but the principal towns of the State 
were founded during the past and the present century. Ca- 
margo, on the Rio Grande, one of the oldest, dates back only 
to the 5 th of March, 1749, whereas Tampico is but recently 
born (i2th of April, 1823), as also IMatamoras (28th of Janu- 
ary, 1823) and Nuevo Laredo (1S48).- From these facts it 
might be inferred that the aboriginal population of Tamauli- 
pas would still be found in a condition relatively unaffected 
by foreign influences. Such, however, does not appear to 
be the case ; for with the exception of the southern portion 
of its territory, where the Huaxteco language prevails,'^ the 
few remnants of Indians in the State seem almost completely 
to have lost the knowledge and practice of their peculiar 
idioms. This fact — stated by the two learned Mexican 
scholars, Francisco Pimentel and Manuel Orozco y Berra"^ — 
does not preclude the possibility of still finding traces, at 
least, of the original tribes and of their languages. While 

1 Emiliano Busto, EstadUtica Jc la RepublLa Mcxicaiia. iSSo, pp. Ixv. and 
Ixvii. 

- I liave taken these data from Manuel Orozco y Berra, Geografui dc las Lcn- 
gtias dc J]/c'xt\o, Parte III. cap. xvii. pp. 291. 292. Xote 3. 

S Ibid., p. 290: "La parte raaritima del Sur, sin poder asignar la verdadera 
extension, estaba ocupada por los /luaxUros ; . . ." The earliest mention which 
I find of the name " Huaxteca " is by Hernando Cortes, Carfa Cuarta, dated 
15th of October, 1524, reprinted by Vedia in J7/s/onadi>rc-s Primitrfos de Iiidias, 
vol. i. p. 96, "las provincias de Guatusco, Tustepeque y Guatasca," p. 103, 
" y llego a la provincia de los Guatescos." 

* " Asi es que, para situar cada ima de las tribus. no tenemos otros datos que 
los lugares en que fueron congregados, }• las indicaciones de los terrenos en 
donde pasaban su vida vagabunda ; para sus costumbres, escasas noticias ; para 
la distincion de las lenguas que hablaban, casi nada." — Orozi.c> y Btrrra's Geo- 
grafia, etc., p, 292. " Todas las tribus de Tamaulipas ban desaparecido ; en el 
siglo que ha pasado los descendientes de aquellos barb.aros se han fundido en la 
poblacion blanca, y si hoy se encuentra alguno es hablando el espaiiol y con el 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 5 

the majority of Indians in Tamaulipas appear to have been 
roving tribes, — and thus may not have left behind them any 
vestiges of dwelUngs or objects of art,^ — local names might 
furnish a clew to forgotten tongues. A word, or even a sylla- 
ble, in frequent use among a tribe long ago destroyed, is often 
more durable than the strongest wall, lasts longer than the 
most elaborately sculptured block. The latter becomes, finally, 
an obstacle to succeeding generations, and is therefore, if not 
ruthlessly destroyed, at all events abandoned to gradual de- 
cay ; the living sound passes into the speech of the people, 
and thus remains. 

The outlet of the Rio Panuco is closed to vessels of large 
draught by a formidable bar, which was an obstacle even to the 
light craft of the Spaniards in the early part of the sixteenth 
century.2 ^s early as 15 18, Juan de Grijalva saw the mouth 
of the Panuco, and anchored near it. His short stay was 
characterized by an unfriendly meeting with the natives.^ In 

traje de la plebe." — Il'id. p. 296. Francisco Pimentel, Otadro descriptivo de las 
Loiguas indi^cnas de Mexico, 1865, vol. ii. p. 251, mentions, beside the Huaxteco, 
only the Lipan, a dialect of the Apache, as being still spoken in Tamaulipas. 

1 Orozco y Berra, Gcografia, etc., pp. 290, 291, quotes, from a MS. of the 
year 1757, Dcscripcion general de la Nuei'a colonia de Santander, etc., by D. 
Agustin Lopez (original at the Archive General), the statement that up to the 
Valley of Santa Barbara, " se ven muchos vestigios de pueblos antiguos de 
Indios y de otras naciones que habitaron antes que los Indies que existen. . . ." 
But this region lies along the upper Rio Panuco. 

- There" is no mention of any of the early discoverers having entered the 
mouth. Antonio de Herrera, Descripdon de las Indias Orcidentales, edition of 
1730, p. iS, says of the Panuco River, " sino el Rio de Panuco, i su Puerto, que 
no es muy bueno." 

3 Itinerario de larmata Del Re CathoUco in India Verso la Isola de lucJtathan 
Del Anno I\IDXVIII,&tc.,\:>Vih\\i\\tz\, with an e.xcellent Spanish translation by 
D. Joaquin Garci'a-Icazbalceta, in vol. i. of Coleccion de Docnmentos para la His-^ 
toria de Mexico. I mention this republication of the celebrated " Itinerario," 
because it is the one I am now using. (Compare, in regard to this valuable 
report, my Notes on the Bibliography of Yncatan and Central America, kindly 
published! at the instance of my friend Mr. S. Salisbury, Jr., by the American 
Antiquarian Society, in its Proceedings, Oct. 21, iSSo.) Bernal Diez de Castillo, 



6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

1522-33, Hernando Cortes and Francisco de Garay almost 
simultaneously attempted the conquest of the region. The 
former ultimately succeeded, thus " pre-empting " on the 
latter's rights.^ It appears that the tribes of the Panuco were 
all sedentary Indians, who lived in houses made of wood, 
sometimes built on platforms of earth.- These tribes spoke 
the Huaxteco language. This idiom is known to be a 
branch of the INIaya, and closely allied to that dialect of the 
latter called the Tzendal of Chiapas.^ Few vestiges of hab- 
itation, if any, have been recorded as existing in the south- 
ern portions of Tamaulipas, yet this is no proof of their 
non-existence. South of the Rio Panuco, however, ruins of 
houses, of mounds, even of entire pueblos, are mentioned.* 
In addition to the well-known localities of which ]\Ir. H. H. 
Bancroft has collected information, I was informed by Seiior 
Nunez, of Tampico, that the pueblo of Tampachichi still 

Historia verdadera de la Conqnista de N'ueva Esfana, in Vedia, vol. ii. cap. 
XAU. p. 13. Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, Historia natural y general 
de las Yndias, reprinted by the late Don Jose Amador de los Rios, in 1S53. 
Oviedo was not, like the two preceding authors, an eye-witness : but at all events 
he was a contemporary, and reports from eye-witnesses. His statements in re- 
gard to Grijalva are found in vol. i. lib. xvii. cap. xv. and xvi. pp. 5:19 and 530. 

1 Cortes, Carta Scgunda, Vedia, vol. i. p. 14; Carta Ciiarta, Ibid. pp. 99-ioS. 
Bernal Diez de Castillo, Historia verdadera, etc., Vedia, ii. cap. Ix. p. 52, cap. 
cl.xii. pp. 212-218. Hernando de Ceballos, Demanda en nombre de Pdnfilo de 
jVarz'aez, etc., in Garci'a-Icazbalceta, Coleccion de Doatmentos, vol. i. p. 443. 
Oviedo, Historia jVatieral, etc., vol. iii. lib. xxxiii. cap. ii. pp. 262, 263, and cap. 
xxxvi. pp. 449-455- 

- Cortes, Carta Segi/nda, Vedia, i. p. 14. Oviedo, Historia General, vol. iii. 
lib. xxxiii. cap. ii. p. 263. 

8 C. H. Berendt, Remarks on the Centres of Ancient Civilization in Central 
America and their Geographical Distribution, from Bulletin of the American Geo- 
graphical Society, Session 1S75-76, No. 2, p. 10. Orozco y Berra, Geografia, etc., 
i. pp. 20, 21. 

* H. H. Bancroft, The Native Races of the Pacific States, vol. iv. pp. 461, 462, 
463. G. F. Lyon, Jourtial of a Residence and Tour in the Republic of Mexico 
in the Year 1S26, vol. i. chap. i. pp. 51-62. Orozco y Berra, Geografia, etc., p. 
290 of Part III. 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 7 

exhibits remains of stone foundations, possibly antedatiag the 
Conquest. 

The Huaxteco district becomes interesting through an old 
tradition, which is said to designate the Rio Panuco as the 
place where a tribe most conspicuous in the confused past 
of Mexico, the Toltecs, disembarked. ^ Should this tradition 
prove to be authentic, it would be another link in the chain 



1 Perhaps the earliest printed notice of the arrival of Aborigines on the gulf- 
coast is found in Francisco Lopez de Gdmara, Segiinda parte de la Cronica gen- 
eral de las Indias, que trata de la Conqidsta de Mexico. My quotation is taken 
from the reprint in Vedia, vol. i. p. 432 : " Xicalancatlh anduvo mas tierra, 
llego a la mar del Norte, y en la costa hizo muchos pueblos ; pero a los dos mas 
principales llamo de sus mismo nombre. El uno Xicalanco esta en la provincia 
de Maxcalcingo, que es cerca de la Vera Cruz, y el otro Xicalanco esta cerca de 
Tabasco." This quotation, however, appears gathered from the same source 
(the Franciscan friars under the direction of Bishop Zumarraga) as the state- 
ment — still older — made by Fray Toribio de Paredes, surnamed Motolinia, 
Historia de los Indios de la Nueva Espana, in Icazbalceta, Colecc. de Docwnentos, 
vol. i., " Epistola proemial," pp. 7, 8. The latter version, however, is quite dif- 
ferent. Neither of the two earliest sources speaks positively of a "landing," but 
only of the Xicalancas reaching the coast from the interior. The first intima- 
tion of a " landing," however, I find in Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, Historia 
general de las cosas de Nueva EspaTia : edition of Bustamante, 1830, vol. iii. 
libr. X. cap. xxix. pp. 132, 133. Speaking of the Cuextecas, he says : " El nombre 
de todos estos tomase de la provincia que llaman Cuextlan, donde los que estan 
poblados se llaman Cuextecas, si son muchos, y si uno Cuextecatl, y por otro 
nombre Toveiome cuando son muchos, y cuando uno Toveio, el cual nombre 
quiere decir nuestro prdjimo. A los mismos llamaban Panteca, 6 Panoteca, que 
quiere decir hombre del lugar pasadero, los cuales fueron asi llamados, y son los 
que viven en la provincia de Panuco, que propramente se llaman Pantlan, 6 
Panotlan, quasi panoaia, que quiere decir, lugar por donde pasan, que es a 
orillas, 6 riberas de la mar, y dicen que la causa porque les pusieron nombre 
de Panoaya es, que dizque los primeros pobladores que vinieron a poblar a esta 
tierra de Mexico, que se llama ahora India occidental, llegaron a aquel puerto con 
navios, con que pasaron aquella mar." But the author does not mention the 
Toltecas as being those who landed. The statement that the latter tribe settled 
at Panuco is first made by Antonio de Herrera, Historia general de los Hechos 
de los Castellanos en las Islas y la Tierra firme del Mar Oceajto, edition of 1730, 
vol. ii. dec. iii. lib. ii. cap. xi. p. 62, and again by Fray Juan de Torquemada, 
Los veintiun Libros Rituales i Monarchia Indiana, etc. edition of 1723, vol. i. 
lib. iii. cap. vii. pp. 254, 255. Both authors allude to the " landing " oi foreigners 



8 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

of indications which tend to identify the Toltecs with the 
Maya. The name given to the place of landing, by the ear- 
liest writers who report the tradition, is " Tamoanchan." ^ 

The coast south of the mouth of the Rio Panuco presents, 
besides a vigorous growth of vegetation, the pleasant fea- 
ture of almost continuous mountain-chains looming up in 
the distance. The Sierra de Tantima borders the horizon. 
Between it and the sandy shore extends, unseen from ship- 
board, the vast lagune of Tamiahua. All this region was for- 
merly, and still is, inhabited by the Huaxtecas. The short 
time at my disposal for making inquiries in regard to that 
tribe did not permit me to obtain results of much value. I 
was told in perfect good faith, though perhaps without the 
needed basis of knowledge, that they were good Indians, 
who had willingly submitted to the changes in their former 
organization and customs introduced by the laws of 1857, — 
abandoning, among other things, the communal tenure of 
lands practised until then. I was also informed that the 
language was divided into three dialects.- 

The distance from the mouth of the Panuco to the mouth 
of the Rio Tuxpan is about 146 kilometres (90 miles Eng- 
lish). As usual along this coast, a considerable bar lies at 

near Panuco, afterwards called Toltecs, by the natives. Both authors are pos- 
terior to Sahagun. 

1 Sahagun, Historia general, etc, vol. iii. lib. x. cap. xxix. pp. 139, 140. The 
syllable " Tarn " is said to signify place, and to be the equivalent, in the Hua.v 
teco language, of the Nahuatl or Mexican " tlan," " pan." Buschmann appears to 
incline towards identifying it with the Mexican words (Joh. Carl Ed. Buschmann, 
Ueber die aztekischcn Ortsiiamcn, 1S53, vii. pp. 106-109), thus favoring the infer- 
ence that it shows either an original connection between the two tongues, or the 
influence of the Mexican upon the Huaxteco. Be that as it may, the word is now 
an integral part of the Huaxtecan idiom, and was so three hundred yeai's ago; 
and it is a singular coincidence, at least, to find a local name in a language de- 
rived from the Maya so closely connected with a tradition concerning the Toltec 
tribes. 

- This indicates a local division analosrous to that of the Mixteco. 



A RECONJVOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 9 

the outlet of the river, offering the usual impediments to 
navigation into the port of the little city of Tuxpan, which 
stands about 12 kilometres (7 miles English) up the river. Its 
population, now estimated at 7,000, is given officially at 5,979 
in 1878, while the whole district of Tuxpan is credited with 
29,393 inhabitants.^ On the south bank of the Tuxpan River 
extends the district of Papantla, half covered with immense 
woods of mahogany cedar. Its population of 21,159 souls ^ 
(of which 14,267 are found in the widely scattered pueblo of 
Papantla proper) busies itself with rather primitive agriculture, 
of which tobacco, coffee, sugar, maize, and vanilla are some 
of the leading products.^ Maize yields two annual crops, but 
in the months of November and December of the year 1880 
late and unusually heavy rains so thoroughly devastated the 
fields that Indian corn had to be imported from New Orleans. 
The little city of Tuxpan enjoys a lively commerce. If the 
great obstacle of the bar were removed, even large steamers 
might safely anchor in the river ; and in that case the pro- 
jected railroad line from Tuxpan to the City of Mexico would 
speedily be built, — an enterprise threatening to the commer- 
cial preponderance of the port of Vera Cruz.* 

The Huaxteco language is spoken to the north of Tuxpan, 
in its immediate vicinity.^ South of it,'and as far down as 
Vera Cruz, several aboriginal idioms are represented. Along 
the coast the Nahuatl, or Mexican proper, now prevails, Avith 



1 Busto, Estadistica de la Rcpilhlica JMexicana, i. p. Ixxi. 

2 Ibid. p. Ixxii. 

3 The vanilla of Papantla is justly famous in Mexico. It grows as a creeper 
on Szuietinia maliogaiii, and also on Anona oblongifolia, but at Papantla prnici- 
pally on the former. 

* The line from Tuxpan to the City of Mexico is shorter and has an easier 
grade than the Vera Cruz Railroad. 

5 Orozco y Berra, Geograjla, etc., iii. 207. Pimentel, Cuadro, etc., vol. ii. 
p. 5. 



lO ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

patches of the Totonaco interspersed.^ The slopes of the 
high coast-range are mostly settled by Totonacas, but the 
Nahuatl Indians also have settlements, and in the north- 
west corner there are pueblos in each of which two, some- 
times three, linguistical stocks are represented ; among them 
the Othomi. Such pueblos were formed by direction of the 
missionaries, — mostly Augustines in this part of the coun- 
try, — at the close of the sixteenth and beginning of the 
seventeenth century.^ 

There are indications of striking changes in the ethnog- 
raphy of the region south and southwest of Tuxpan, during 
and after the time of the Conquest. Thus the large pueblo 
of Papantla is now exclusively Totonaco ; but from a descrip- 
tion of the bishopric of Puebla (then including the whole 
present State of Vera Cruz), written about 15 71 or 1572, it 
appears that the Nahuatl language was then spoken there. 
Misantla, now exclusively Totonaco, then contained families 
speaking Nahuatl.^ Nauhtla, on the coast, was regarded at 
the time of the Conquest as a settlement of Indians speak- 
ing the Mexican idiom ; ^ at present it belongs to the To- 

1 Orozco y Berra, Geografia, etc., pp. 202-205, gives a catalogue of the pue- 
blos of both languages in the State of Vera Cruz. 

2 Fray Joan de Grijalva, Cronica de la Orden de N. P. S. Aiigiistbi en las pro- 
vincias de la Nuez'a Espana, 1624. Edad I, cap. xviii. p- 32. 

3 Descripcion del Obispado de Puebla, hecha por el Chantre Aloiiso Perez de 
Andrada, en Nombre del Cabildo, sede vacante, MS., original belonging to D. 
loaquin Garci'a-Icazbalceta, p. 9. On p. 2 it is stated that the bishopric is 
vacant through the demise of D. Fernando Villagomez. Bishop Villagomez 
died Dec. 3, 1570; and his successor, D. Antonio Ruiz de Morales y Medina, 
was installed Nov. i, 1573. Fray Agustin de Vetancurt, Teatro Mexicano, re- 
print of 1S71, vol. ii. p. 374. 

* Torquemada, Mottarchia, etc., lib. iii. cap. x. pp. 261, 262, ascribes the 
settlement of the region of Nauhtlan to the Teochichimecas, and intimates that 
they may have been Otomites ! The names of the leaders of Nauhtlan whom 
Cortes had executed for their attack on the Totonacos and their Spanish allies 
are strictly Nahuatl. Cortes, Carta Segwtda, in Vedia, i. pp. 26, 27 ; Bernal 
Diez, Historia Verdadera, etc, Vedia, ii. cap. xciii. xciv. xcv. pp. 92-93. The 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. ii 

tonacas.^ The number of the population seems also to 
have undergone change. Thus Papantla and its neighboring 
pueblo, Tuzapan, contained in 1571-72 "one hundred and 
fifty families;"^ in 1878, as already stated, Papantla alone 
figures in the official census with 14,267 inhabitants. Mis- 
antla also has considerably increased from the six hundred 
families with which it is credited in 1571.^ On the other 
hand, the old pueblo of Cempohual, reported populous in 
1 5 19, had dwindled down to "twelve tributary Indians" less 
than fifty-five years afterward.* These few indications go 
toward strengthening a conviction which I reached in other 



former speaks of one of them as chief of the place : " senor de aquella ciudad ; " 
the latter mentions them as Mexican captains : " y los capitanes mexicanos 
respondieron, . . ." p. 94. Andres de Tapia, Relacioit hecha sobre la Conquista 
de Mexico, in Icazbalceta, Colecc. de Dociimentos, vol. ii. p. 579, speaks of Na- 
uhtla as "a un pueblo de un vasallo de Muteczuma." The difficulty is com- 
monly obviated by supposing that the Mexicans kept a garrison at or near 
Nauhtla. Oviedo {Hist. General, etc., vol. iii. lib. xxxiii. cap. v. p. 286) is, how- 
ever, very positive. Not only does he confirm the words of Cortes, but he 
adds that Cualpopoca excused himself for not having gone to Vera Cruz " e a 
se ofres5er por tal vasallo con todas sus tierras e gente, era la causa que avia 
de passar por tierra de sus enemigos." These enemies were the Totonacos. I 
have, in my essay On the Art of War and Mode of Warfare of the Ancient Mexi- 
cans, p. 100, note 18, endeavored to disprove the existence of so-called Mexican 
garrisons. The chiefs from Nauhtla were therefore either Mexican stewards, or 
Nahuatl chiefs. I believe the evidence to be decidedly in favor of the latter. 
Fray Diego Duran, Historia de las Indias de Niieva Espana y Mas de Tierra 
firma, vol. ii cap. Ixxii. p. 23, speaks of " Coatlpopoca " as "el principal de 
aquel pueblo." 

1 Orozco y Berra, Geografta, etc., p. 205. 

2 Perez, Descripcion del Ohispado de Puebla, MS., p. 9. Tuzapan was a con- 
siderable pueblo, often mentioned during the Conquest. 

3 Perez, Descripcion, etc., p. I. 

4 Of the exaggerated reports about the size of Cempohual at the time of the 
Conquest, I need make no special mention here. In 1540, according to Grijalva 
{Cronica, etc., cap. xxx. p. 50), it was "una poblason grandissima." It held, ac- 
cording to Perez [Descripcion, etc., p. 14), "doze tributaries. " According to 
Torquemada {Monarchia, etc., lib. iv. cap. xix. p. 397), about 1600, the site was 
almost completely abandoned, its inhabitants being reduced to three or four 
persons. 



12 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

parts of ^Mexico ; naniclx-, that the results of the Conquest 
have been, so far as the number of aboriginal population is 
concerned, a dispLxccvicnt, rather than a d'uniiiutlon. Sueh 
chani;-es of location in consequence of violent disturbances 
are natural to the Indian character. rhe_\' occurred, too. 
before the Conquest, and account in ]\Iexieo. as well as in 
New IMexico,^ for the abundance of ruins met with in every 
part of the countrv. In regard to absolute aboriginal popula- 
tion, I am satistied that it has increased within the past three 
luuuired and. sixtv \"cars. 

The Totonaco language has been supposed to belong to the 
same stock as the Iluaxteco, and thus to be related to the 
IMava idioms.'-^ The Totonacos were a sedentary tribe living 
in houses bu.ilt in part of stone. '^ They used the uictlatl, 
or grinding-slab of stone,"* dressed in cotton, wrought orna- 
ments of gold and of green stones, carved large blocks into 
fanciful shapes for the purposes of Avorship, and used weap- 
ons similar to those of other ^Mexican tribes.'^ Thev appear 
to have formed a tribal confederacy with the executive power 
vested in two pueblos, — Cempohual and Chiahuitzllan, — and 
to have allied themselves with tribes of Nahuatl stock for 



^ I found in New Me.xicOj west of Santa Fe, mined pueblos almost at evcry 
step. My Indians positively assured me that these had been occupied, not 
simultaneously, but successively. The Indian seldom "repairs." 

- V.1ro7.co y Berra, Geograjla, etc., p. 20. Bancroft, Nath-e Races, vol, iii. 
p. 776. The latter boldly classifies the Totonaco with the ]Ma\-i ; die former 
regards it as doubtful, " pertenecen dudosamente." 

* I refer to the well-known descriptions of the conquerors. The tenn " eal y 
canto," so liberally employed by them, should, however, be taken with reserve, 
as a comparison only, until the binding material of the walls has been duly 
tested. 

^ I have been informed that the usual fragments of metates are verj'- com- 
mon, as well on the site attributed to old Cempohual as in other ruined locali- 
ties of the coast and slope. 

s Cortes, Ci'trta Sc^^unda., p. 14. Bernal Diez, Historia Verdadcra, cap. xli. 
p. 36; cap. xlv. p. 39; cap. xlvi. p. 40; cap. li. pp. 44, 45. 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 13 

protection against tlie inroads of the Mexicans and their con- 
federates of the Central Valley. It is known how they were 
overcome and became tributary to the fierce iiivaders.^ At 
the present time the Totonacos are said to be peaceable In- 
dians (although others assert the reverse), but, in those pueb- 
los which nestle on the slope of the coast-range, to chng with 
great tenacity to their former usages and customs. They are 
conservative enough to have preserved (I was told), in many 
pueblos, their communal tenure of lands, against the federal 
laws of Mexico. It thus would appear that the Totonacos 
had the same system of landed tenure as the ancient Mexi- 
cans themselves. 

It is commonly stated that aboriginal ruins are to be found 
in all parts of the State of Vera Cruz.^ These ruins, however 
numerous, should be explored according to a system based on 
historical knowledge. Certain places were inhabited at the 
time of the Conquest, and it has long been my opinion that 
these localities ought to be selected, identified, and thoroughly 
explored before others. The results of discoveries there would 
not only form a healthy check on the statements of eye-wit- 
nesses of the time when the buildings were still occupied, 
but they would also become valuable criteria for judgment 
of other localities, where the light of documentary history 
is absolutely wanting. Thus the site of the pueblo of Cem- 
pohual, whose inhabitants played such a conspicuous role 
in the history of the Conquest, should become an objective 

1 The most circumstantial accounts are found in Duran, Historia de las Indias 
de A^iieva Espana, etc., vol. i. cap. x.\i. pp. 180-1S7, and cap. xxiv. pp. 199-207 ; 
in Fernando de Alvarado Tezozomoc, Cronica Mexicana, published by Sefior J. 
M. Vigil in 1S81, cap. xx.xi. pp. 325-328 ; cap. xxxii. pp. 329-333 ; cap. xxxiv. xxxv. 
pp. 343-349 ; and in an anonymous fragment entitled N'oticias Relativas al Rei- 
ttado de Motecnzuma Illmkamina, pp. 128-130. The latter has been printed by 
my friend Vigil in the same volume as the Cronica. 

" ISIr. Bancroft {Native Races, vol. iv. cap. viii.) has gathered all the scat- 
tered reports extant on the antiquities of Vera Cruz. 



14 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

point. Its location, as well as the condition of the ruins, 
is variously stated.^ At all events, it was not on the coast, 
but on one of the long slopes ascending towards the high 
Cordillera. The site of Chiahuitztlan has, as yet, not be- 
come the object of systematic research. In fact the route 
of Cortes from the gulf-coast towards the interior has never 
been thoroughly traced, still less explored. While we natu- 
rally tend to the belief that he ascended towards the Cofre 
de Perote, this belief is not based upon ascertained fact. 
Important ruins near the Puente NacionaP seem to justify 
the assumption that the Spaniards took that route ; but the 
equally striking vestiges near the narrow gorge of the Chi- 
quihuite, or Atoyac, on the line of railroad from Vera Cruz 
to Mexico,^ remind the student forcibly of the pueblo of 
Cingapacinga, so much dreaded by the Totonaco, and graph- 
ically described by eye-witnesses of the Conquest.* 

Furthermore, it would be well to examine the site of Na- 
uhtla, otherwise called Almeria, — an Indian pueblo whence 
came the first successful aggression upon the whites by the 
Aborigines. Nauhtla lies on the coast, in the apex of an 
isosceles triangle formed by it and the two Totonaco pueblos 
of Papantla and Misantla. At present it is asserted to be 
a Totonaco settlement ; but whether it was so three hun- 



1 Besides the locality now called "Cempoalla," I have heard Paso de Ovejas 
also mentioned as the possible site of the old pueblo. 

- Bancroft, A'athe Races, vol. iv. cap. viii. pp. 437, 43S. Dr. Frederick 
Mercker, of Huatusco, described these ruins to me as very important. 

'^ I at one time thought that Cortes might have taken the route by Orizaba 
or Cordoba ; but Dr. Mercker convinced me that he could not have done so. 
The route is impracticable ; the apparent passes terminate in a cnl de sac, or 
stop suddenly on the brink of an inaccessible gorge. Of the road by Perote no 
exploration has yet been made. 

* Among the many names, all more or less distorted, which have been given 
to this pueblo, there is one which appears to be at least uncorrupted. It is given 
by Andres de Tapia (Relaciou, p. 566), and reads " Tizapancingo." 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 



15 



dred and sixty years ago is doubtful. Considerable impor- 
tance is to be attached to such specific points as these, since 
they may throw light on the origin of the very remarkable 
ruins of Misantla, Metlatltoyuca, Tuzapan, and of the Taj in, 
near Papantla. 

My knowledge of these ruins is limited to what has been 
printed concerning them and to hearsay. I had to abandon 
my original plan of reaching Papantla, on account of a severe 
attack of illness. The few descriptions and pictures of them 
seem to reveal a style of architecture perhaps more closely 
allied to that of Yucatan, Teh uan tepee, and Cuernavaca, than 
to that of Mitla and of the Central Valley.^ Still, as I have 
not seen the ruins myself, I can but call attention to certain 
apparent analogies and discrepancies, at the risk of going 
astray even with such cautious premises. 

In addition to the places already mentioned as containing 
vestiges of aboriginal architecture, I would state that I have 
heard mentioned ruins at Cazones, near Tuxpan, and also 
along the Rio Tuxpan, below the city itself. 

While anchored off the bar at the latter port, the traveller 
is occasionally treated to a view of the two gigantic sum- 
mits of the Mexican coast-range, — the Cofre de Perote, or 
Nauhcampatepetl, and the snow-clad volcano of Orizaba, 
otherwise called Volcan de San Andres, and in the native 
Mexican language, "Citlaltepetl" or star-mountain. The 
latter lies, on an average, 210 kilometres (130. miles) from 



1 Compare in Bancroft, Native Races, vol. iv., the following plates : p. 370 
("Pyramid near Tehuantepec "), p. 442 ("Type of Pyramids at Centla"), p. 194 
(" Casa del Adivino at Uxmal "), p. 240 (" Momid at Mayapan "), p. 443 (" El 
Castillo at Huatusco "), p. 456 ("Pyramid at Tusapan"). In regard to the 
"Tajin" near Papantla, figured in the volume on p. 452, it is interesting to 
compare it with the restoration of the edifice of Xochicalco (after Alzate), 
by Brantz-Mayer, Mexico as it Was and as if Is, 1844, P- 1S6. These are, of 
course, mere hints, which may prove utterly valueless. 



l6 ARCH^SOLOGIC^IL IXSTITU'TE. \ 

the mouth of the river Tuxpan ; the former is much nearer. 
Owing- to the threat altitude of both peaks, respectively about 
5.300 and 4.100 metres ;^i7,4*-X> and 13,400 feet EngHsh), 
thev are soon even at a greater distance yet.^ On the even- 
ing of the u)ih of September of the present year I saw 
plainly the dark, dice-like protuberances capping the broad 
ridge of the Cofre. while the steep, silver)- cone oi Orizaba 
loomed up above distant clouds far to the south. (Plate 11.") 
It so happened that both times when I made the passage 
between Tuxpan and Vera Cruz the sky was unusually hazy, 
even shrouding the details of the coast-line. Only the dense 
forests at the mouth of the Rio Tecolutla, famous for their 
supplv of mahogany, and. further south, the glistening white 
sand-hills, or f>ii'danos along the -shore remained visible. 
The harbor of Nauhtla, as well as the historically famous 
place of settlement, by direction of Cortt^s, at Antigua, 
where the town of Veiti Cruz was tirst established.'-^ were 
passed at night ; and when, on J\Iarch i, 1881, day began to 
dawn, the tirst rays of sunlight fell on the Isla de los 
Sacriticios. low and sandy, with the city of Vera Cruz be- 
yond it, lying like \*enice in the waters, with its Moorish 
cupolas and projecting wharves, while the snow-clad Orizaba 
grandly towered above it. 

1 Approachhig- the coast from Habana, the " Pico." as the x'olcano of Orizaba 
is oftCH called, is seen at least one hundred and titty miles, if not two hundred 
miles. otY. <->\ving to its white glistening cone of si>ow, it is greeted by sailors as 
" la paloma del mar."' It is siivgular that the ItiK^nvit* tk Ortf,ik\} makes no 
nxention of the Oriaalxi. Bernal Diex, who was in the same \x>\-ag-e. distinctly 
mentions the sight of the snow-clad peak from " Guacayualco," which must be 
the Rio Co;\t«acc»alcos, — //;>A»»v-j i'fnfiuf^m, cap. xii. p. 11 : " e luego se pare- 
cieron las grandes sierras ne\-adas, que en todo el aiio estan cargadas de niex^e." 
The distance fnmi the month of Co;\tracoalcos to the " Pico," in a straight line, 
is at least two hundred miles Ettglish. 

* The place is still calletl 1-a Aittigua, from " La Antigua Villa Rica de la 
Venx Cru«," — **the ancient (v>r oldl ttnvn of the true cross." Com\iare Hunt- 
boldt, £sssi /Wify'fiu sttr /^ A*«»«vifl5f .f.fA^'Tiw, edition of iS.:,-. vol. ii. p. 21 ex 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 1 7 

The island of Sacrificios is known, and has derived its 
name, from the human sacrifices performed there at the time 
Juan de Grijalva first landed on it.^ No vestiges are said to 
be left of the small structures of stone described as having 
existed on it in 15 18; but from the exceedingl)^ valuable 
report on the National Museum of Mexico, left us by the late 
Colonel Brantz-Mayer, we gather that the burial vases and 
other remains subsequently found there were of the kind 
noticed by the Spaniards during their first visit.^ It is evi- 
dent that the Indians who met Grijalva and afterwards Cor- 
tes on the beach were Nahuatl, but that the beach itself 
was not inhabited, the Indian pueblos being situated towards 
the interior, hugging the base of the high-coast range.^ 
Were it not for its extreme unhealthiness, the vicinity of 
Vera Cruz would not be an improper site for settlement. 
Indian villages might have grown up there. Extensive 
swamps in which low palms and calladiums occasionally 
grow, and dry sandy patches here and there covered with 

1 Itinenrrio de Grijalva, in Icazbalceta's Colccc. de Documenios,vo\. i. pp. 296, 
297. Bernal Diez, Historia Verdadera, etc., cap. xiv. p. 12 ; cap. xxxviii. p. 32. 

2 Itinerario de Grijalva, p. 298 : " Mientras el capitan hablaba, desenterro un 
cristiano dos jarros de alabastro, dignos de ser presentados al Emperador, llenos 
de piedi-as de muchas suertes." These "jars" are mentioned also by Fran- 
cisco Lopez de Gdmara. Segunda Parte de la Cronica, etc., Vedia, i. p. 299: 
" Dos cantarillos de alabastro, llenos de diversas piedras algo finas, y entre ellas 
una que valio dos mil ducados." Brantz-Mayer (Mexico as it Was and as it Is, 
pp. 96, 97) reproduces a vase, of beautiful outline, made of white marble, 
coming from the island of Sacrificios. I have seen similar vases, and prob- 
ably the identical one, at the Museo Nacional of Mexico. It may be of 
alatjaster ; but any one who has seen the magnificent veined and multi-colored 
marble of Tecali, in the State of Puebla, becomes loth to decide the question 
without a test by the means of acids. 

3 The beach was called " Chalchiuhcueccan." The noted Abbe C. E. Bras- 
seur de Bourbourg {Histoire des Nati'^ns Civilisees du Afexiqiie et de VAinerique 
Centrale, vol. i. p. 143) mentions vestiges of ancient buildings beneath the waters 
of the bay, between the city of Vera Cruz and the castle of Ukia. It is the 
only notice of such remains of which I have any knowledge. Within times 
accessible to fair tradition, the beach is reported as uninhabited. 



l8 ARCH.±:OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

scrubby thickets in which lanthanas, red abutilons, and cacti 
abound, form the most striking features of the unattractive 
landscape in the immediate neighborhood of the city. But 
the harbor, however imperfect, is more accessible than any 
other now in use on the same coast ; and this fact accounts 
for the great hold which the city has upon the commerce 
of Mexico with outside ports, — a hold which, to the credit 
of its commercial population, is ably and skilfully im- 
proved. 

Only "subsoil" examination could satisfactorily determine 
the question whether the shores of Vera Cruz were ever 
settled previous to the arrival of the Spaniards. I am not 
competent to report whether antiquities exist on the beach 
or not. If, as I am led to suppose, none are found there, 
then the existence of buildings for worship on the Isla 
de los Sacrificios, far in advance of the actual settlements, 
becomes an interesting feature. It finds a parallel on the 
coast of Peru, where even the islands of Chincha were used 
as places of sacrifice by the inhabitants of the mainland.^ 

I have already alluded to the extreme unhealthiness of 
Vera Cruz, or rather to its reputation for extreme unhealthi- 
ness. Its climate, warm and moist, is less trying for those 
who land there than for such as descend abruptly into it 
from the central highlands. Nine hours of travel by the 
Vera Cruz and Mexico Railroad bring the tourist from La 
Esperanza^ to the sea-coast, — a fall of over 2,500 metres 
(8,300 feet English). Such a change is strongly felt. The 
reputation of the sickliness of Vera Cruz is based on the 

1 Pedro de Cieza de Leon, La Cronica del Pcni, in Vedia, vol. ii. cap. iv. 
pp. 357, 358 ; cap. V. p. 359. Joseph de Acosta, Historia natural y moral de las 
Indias, 160S, lib. i. cap. xix. p. 68. 

- Esperanza, although it contains little more than extensive railroad build- 
ings and a very good hotel, is one of the main stopping-places along the whole 
route. 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 19 

prevalence of the " vomito," or yellow-fever. The disease 
appears to be endemic there, with sporadic outbursts of great 
violence. During such periods it sometimes creeps inland ; 
and this year it has, as an epidemic, ravaged the mountain 
slopes as far as Jalapa and Cordoba, and reached as near to 
Orizaba as the Fortin.^ 

The fact that the beach proper was in all probability almost 
destitute of permanent habitations until after the Conquest,^ 
and the absence of positive documents, render it difficult if 
not impossible as yet to decide the question whether or not 
the vomito existed on the coast previous to the time of early 
Spanish settlement. At all events, the assertion of Clavi- 
gero, that yellow-fever appeared but recently, appears doubt- 
ful.^ Of the two great epidemics which devastated central 
Mexico about 1545 and 1576, known in part as the cocoliztli, 
little is ascertained beyond the fact that they were charac- 
terized by copious nose-bleeding. This would seem rather to 
connect them with the mazaqidaititl, or spotted typhus, now 
common in the State of Puebla among the Indians, than with 
the vomito proper.* 

1 For these places I refer to the map of the Vera Cruz and Mexico Raih-oad 
executed by Garcia-Cubas. 

2 I do not consider occasional discoveries along the shore, even if " subsoil," 
any proof of former habitation. The statement by Brasseur, referred to in a 
previous note, needs confirmation. The Abbe has supposed a town of " Chal- 
chiuhcueccan," which never existed. 

^ Abbe F. X. Clavigero, Gcschichfe von Mexico, 1789, vol. ii. pp. 460, 461, 
note («). This is a German translation of the Italian original, Storia di 
Messtco. 

* The mazaqtiiauitl, or mazaqumiitl as Dr. Mercker has given me the 
word, is cbmmon around Puebla. It is endemic in that region, and prevails 
mostly among the Indians. With due deference to the authority quoted, I still 
have doubts about the word. I would respectfully suggest that it might be 
matlazahuatl , or at least the same disease. Humboldt {Essai Politique siir la 
Noiivelle Espagne, vol. iv. pp. 161, 162) identifies the mailazahtiatl with the coco- 
liztli of 1545 and 1576. Both the matlazahuatl (of later epidemics at least) and 
the so-called niazaqziiauitl of to-day were and are confined to the high table- 



20 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

The coast-reg'ion extending between the beach at Vera 
Cruz and the entrance into the gorges of the high Cordil- 
lera at the Chiquihuite, or Atoyac, is a low, sandy, and 
marshy plain. Although there is no lack of either water or 
heat, vegetation is stunted, possibly in part owing to the 
periodical excess of both elements. This plain is not thickly 
peopled along- the line of the road ; and the people are all 
classified (the Creoles and foreigners of course excepted) 
among the Nahuatl, or of the same linguistical stock as 
the Mexicans proper.^ 

The Cordillera presents an abrupt dark-green front of lofty 
mountains, above which towers the snow-clad Orizaba. The 
road enters the highlands through the narrow and very pic- 
turesque pass of the Atoyac, and the scenery changes. In 
appalling curves we wind our way upwards through gorges, 
along fearful chasms and slopes covered with the most luxu- 
riant vegetation of the tropics. In the little valleys beneath, 
thatched roofs of Indian dwellings rise among plantains and 
tree-like shrubs of hibiscus, covered wdth large scarlet blos- 
soms. An occasional hacienda appears in the distance, like 
a white quadrangular fort ; also villages, with the Moorish 
dome of their church peeping out of thick foliage. It is the 
landscape of the tropics resting, as it were, on the southern 
Alps, where they descend towards the plains of Lombardy. 

lands. It is doubtful as to the cocoliztU. I may add here, m reference to the 
fact that this year the voniito reached as high as the Fortin above Cordoba and 
very near to Orizaba, that the height of Cordoba, according to E. Guilleniin, as 
reported in Fefcrmautrs Gcograf/iisc/ic Milt/ieili/iigt-ii, 1S69, p. 230, is 92S metres 
(3,034 feet English). According to Humboldt (Essai Polit/qiit; etc., vol. iv. p. 
192) the hacienda del Encero was, at his time, the highest limit of the disease. 
He determined its altitude to be 92S metres also. The peculiarity of this year's 
spread of the v6mito seems to consist, therefore, not so much in its having 
reached a higher elevation above sea-level, as in its having gone further inland, 
following the central artery of travel. 

1 Orozco y Berra, Geografia, etc., pp. 200-202. 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 21 

On the beautiful morning of March 2, 1881, when I first 
passed through this wonderful region, the summit of Ori- 
zaba rose above the glorious landscape like a cone of molten 
silver, in a cloudless sky. On the left side of the road, about 
10 kilometres (six miles) east of Cordoba, Mr. A. G. Alexan- 
der, the skilful American photographer of Vera Cruz, noticed 
several ruined mounds, one of which in particular was " very 
large, and made of a kind of stone which is not found in the 
vicinity." He excavated it to some extent, and found stone 
statues, arrow-heads of obsidian and flint ; also, heads of clay 
and fragments of common pottery. The locality may be one 
of those mentioned by Dupaix,i and, after him, in the great 
work of Mr. H. H. Bancroft,^ near Amatlan de los Reyes. 

The houses of the natives on the coast (Plate III.) and 
in the warm valleys of the lower coast-range are of upright 
reeds or canes, very airy, and with steep, four-sided roofs 
of thatch, palm-leaves, or leaves of the maguey. Each fam- 
ily has often two and three houses ; and, in case there is but 
one, it is so subdivided as to correspond to the three build- 
ings. I shall return to this peculiarity hereafter. 

From Cordoba, which appears shrouded by plantations of 
coffee, sugar, and tobacco, by tropical fruit-trees of many 
kinds, and blooming with the exquisite flowers of the hibis- 
cus, the road rapidly approaches the true slopes of the great 
volcano. Already occasional glimpses through side-gorges 
reveal for a short time these slopes in their broad extent 
and oppressive grandeur. At Orizaba the giant bursts 
out into full view ; and as the city lies (according to E. 
Guillemin) 1,282 metres above the level of the gulf,^ the 

1 Kingsborough, Antiquities of Mexico, vol. v. pp. 213, 214; vol. vi. pp. 424, 
425; vol. iv. plate iv. figs. 8 and 9. 

2 Native Races, vol. iv. p. 435. 

3 Peterinann's Geographische Mittheilungen, 1S69, p. 230. 



22 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

Pico (its height being 5,295 metres, or 17,368 feet English, 
according to Garci'a-Cubas) towers 4,013 metres (12,162 feet) 
above it, at a distance of not more than 40 kilometres (25 
miles English) to the N.N.E. I mention these figures so as 
to give an idea of relative proportions and their effect 

The districts of Orizaba and Cordoba are among the most 
populous of the State of Vera Cruz. The former, in 1878, 
contained 41,545 inhabitants (of which 14,161 were in the 
city); the latter, 36,098, — -11,302 of which were included in 
the town of Cordoba. The population of the whole State 
being given at 504,970, it follows that these two adjoining 
districts together contain nearly one sixth of the whole 
number.^ 

The name Orizaba is a corruption of the Nahuatl word 
" Ahuilizapan," of uncertain etymology. Hardly anything is 
known about the tribe peopling this territory up to the middle 
of the fifteenth century, when Indian tradition represents them 
as allies of the Totonacos of the coast against a common 
enemy, the Mexicans and their confederates.^ These Iro- 
quois of the South — as their mode of conquest, their ferocity 
and organization for the purpose of warfare, may justify us in 
calling them — had reached in their forays the vicinity of the 
peak of Orizaba,^ from two opposite directions. After the 
bloody and protracted conflicts with the tribe of Chalco, 

1 '&usto,Estadistica, etc., vol. i. p. Ixxi. 

2 Orizaba, alone, never appears conspicuous. Even Fernando de Alba Ixtlil- 
xochitl, Relacioties historicas, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., Octava Rclacion, does not 
mention it among the older settlements. 

3 They fell on tribe after tribe, leaving the most powerful ones untouched. 
Thus they "rounded" the great volcano, leaving Atlixco, with the strongly 
fortified pueblo of Quauhquechollan — now lluacachula — and the numerous 
tribe of Cholula, to the north. Cholula was separated from Tepeaca by the 
unoccupied country where the city of La Puebla de los Angeles now stands, 
and had no claim upon any connection with it. When, therefore, the Valley 
Confederates, after overpowering Chalco, crept up to Tepeaca, the latter surren- 
dered almost without resistance. 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 23 

the passage to the south of the great volcano of Popoca- 
tepetl was open to them, and they took advantage of it to 
fall upon the tribe of Tepeaca, southeast of the present city 
of Puebla. After exacting tribute from that pueblo and its 
nei^^hbors of Tecamachalco, they found themselves within con- 
venient reach of the fertile valleys around Orizaba.^ About 
the same period it appears that they also descended upon the 
coast from the north side of the volcano of Orizaba. The 
pueblos of Tuxpan, Tamapachco, Toxtepec,^ and others had 
provoked the ire of the confederates by an act of treachery 
not uncommon among the Indians of Mexico. They had 
murdered some traders from the pueblos of the Central 
Valley, who were visiting the fairs then held every twenty 
days, more or less, in each pueblo.^ It was a provocation 
welcome to the Valley Confederates. The distance was no 
impediment to them. Marching in a straight line to the 
northeast, they fell upon the Huaxtecos of the coast and over- 
powered them with the usual slaughter.* Thus the road to 
Orizaba was open to the Mexicans and their allies from two 
sides ; but it appears that they approached the ill fated tribe 
from the west, through what is now the State of Puebla. An 
insolent demand upon it for tribute, under the disguise of 
" presents," was the first formal intimation of danger. This 
demand was refused on instigation, it is said, of the Tlaxcal- 

1 No tribe of any consequence, only thinly inhabited lands with scattered 
settlements, intervened between Tepeaca and the valley of Orizaba. 

2 Noticias relativas al reinado de Midecuzima Ilhnica7nina in Biblioteca Mexi- 
cana, p. 128. Tezozomoc, Cronica, etc., ibid. cap. xxviii. pp. 312, 313.^ Duran, 
Historia de las Indias de Nueva Espana, vol. i. cap. xix. pp. 165-174- Ixtlilxochitl, 
Histoire dcs CMchimeques ou des anciens rois de Tezcuco, vol. i. cap. xl. pp. 286-288. 
Vetancurt, Teatro, etc., vol. i. ; Parte Segunda, cap. xv. pp. 300-302. 

3 Duran, Historia, etc., vol. i. cap. xix. p. 165. Tezozomoc, Cronica, etc., cap. 

xxxviii. p. 310. 

* Noticias relativas al reinado, etc., p. 128. Duran, Historia, etc., vol. 1. cap. 
xix. pp. 165-174. Tezozomoc, Cronica, etc., cap. xxviii. pp. 312, 313. Torque- 
mada, Monarchia, lib. ii. cap. xlviii. p. 160 (of vol. i.). 



2'4 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

tecos, who promised to assist their neighbors should they be 
assailed. 1 The latter, well aware of the consequences of 
their refusal, allied themselves at once with the Totonacos of 
Cempohual, and Ouiahuitztlan or Chiahuitztlan ; but the Mexi- 
cans, Tezcucans, and Tlacopans were too swift for them. By 
moving their warriors to the south of Popoca-tepetl they not 
only struck the most direct trail towards Orizaba, but also 
placed the tribes of Huexotzinco, Ouauhquechollan, and 
Cholula, all independent and more or less at war with the 
Tlaxcaltecos, between the latter and their own war-party. 
The coast people were taken by surprise, and a fearful devas- 
tation of the country began, which terminated in its submis- 
sion to the Valley Confederates. It appears that the Tlaxcal- 
tecans either failed to fulfil their promise of assistance, or came 
too late ; at all events their warriors did not participate in the 
conflict,^ but having perceived that, by overpowering the tribe 

1 The attack, or rather the provocation to an attack, upon the tribe of Orizaba 
by the Mexicans and their allies is one of the most important events of aborigi- 
nal history in Mexico. It fully explains the wars between Mexico and the valley 
on one side, and Tlaxcallan and the plain of Puebla on the other side. The 
general belief has been that these continuous wars were the result of a formal 
agreement among the allies ; that they were carried on at stated intervals and 
for religious objects. They have been gravely termed the "Holy War," — 
Guerra Sagrada. It appears to have been overlooked that even those authors 
who are most responsible for the strange idea of regular expeditions for the 
purpose of securing captives, all place the beginning of these combats after the 
successful forays of the Mexicans and their allies upon Orizaba, which forays 
completely isolated Tlaxcallan. I refer to Ixtlilxochitl, Histoire des Chichimeqiies, 
etc., vol. i. cap. xli. p. 292, — to be compared with cap. xl. ; Torquemada, vol. 
i. lib. ii. cap. xlix. pp. 160-162, Monarchia, etc. ; but the latter, in lib. ii. cap. 
Ixx. pp. 197, 199, gives such a clear, sensible, and therefore credible statement 
of the true cause of the wars in question, that it completely dispels the notions 
of the " conventional " fights which have been so commonly believed. That 
chapter should be copied entire ; but as it is too long for this volume I very 
earnestly refer the student to it. Furthermore, when the Spaniards began to 
treat with the Tlaxcaltecos the latter did not mention the " Holy War," but 
complained that they were held surrounded, and kept out of salt, cotton, and 
other necessities of life. Cortes, Carta Scgimda, p. iS. 

2 Tezozomoc, Cronica, etc., cap. xxxi., xxxii. p. 331. Torquemada, Mon- 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 25 

of Orizaba and the Totonacos, the Mexicans held their own 
territory completely surrounded, they secretly instigated the 
former to revolt. Yielding to these counsels and renewed 
assurances of aid, the Orizabans and their associates smoth- 
ered the confederate tribute-gatherers with the smoke of 
red pepper {chile), and killed the Mexican traders.^ The re- 
veno-e which the confederates of the valley took was prompt 
and bitter, and ever thereafter the Totonacos especially were 
treated with particular severity. Their complaints about it 
to Cortes furnish an idea of the hardships to which they had 
to submit at the hands of their vindictive and fierce con- 
querors.2 Orizaba itself must have suffered terribly during 
these wars, for it never afterwards appears with any degree 
of prominence. 

I have dwelt at some length on these occurrences, for the 
reason that they forcibly illustrate the condition of affairs in 
Mexico in the century previous to the advent of Cortes. The 
fact that the Valley Confederates could freely sweep around 
the range of their most powerful enemy, crushing one tribe 
after another in detail, and finally isolating completely the 
tribe of Tlaxcallan, shows how loose intertribal relations were, 
and hozv distant yet were the conceptions of a state or of a nation 
among the aborigines (f Mexico. That even the Mexicans them- 

archia, etc, liH. ii. cap. xlix. p. 162, mentions a combined attack of the warriors of 
Tlaxcallan, Huexotzinco, and Cholula upon the rear of the Mexicans. But the 
specifically Mexican sources do not speak of it ; and they would not have failed 
to do so, since, as the result showed, such an attack would have redounded to 
the honor of Mexican prowess. 

1 Duran, Historia, etc., vol. i. cap. xxiv. pp. 200, 201. Tezozomoc, Croiiica, 
cap. xxxiv. p. 344. This mode of smothering with chile is represented in the large 
paintings of Cuauhtlancingo, of which 1 shall hereafter speak. The aboriginal 
houses having no windows, it was easy to stifle any one within by closing the door, 
after having built a large fire, with red pepper in abundance on it, inside. 

2 Compare Tezozomoc, Cronica, etc., cap. xxxv. p. 347, with Cortes, Carta 
Segtcftda, p. 13, and Bernal Diez, Histoi'ia verdadera, etc., cap. xli. p. 36, cap. 
xlvi. pp. 40, 41. 



26 



ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 



selves had no thought or knowledge of unification or consolida- 
tion, — this I believe that I have elsewhere proved, basing my 
conclusions principally upon the events of the Conquest, when 
Cortes availed himself of the same disconnected tribal soci- 
ety which the Mexicans had overrun, leaving it untouched 
in its fundamental arrangement, as 
the most dangerous weapon against 
them in the hands of an intelligent 
aggressor.^ 

Orizaba is not devoid of ancient 
relics. Besides those mentioned by 
Dupaix and Bancroft,^ I would call 
attention to the relief represented in 
the accompanying figure, which is a 
copy of a drawing of which a photo- 
graph was given to me by my friend 
Chavero. The relief which it repre- 
sents stood, in 1865, in a wall of the 
tannery of Tepatlaxco in Orizaba. 
The stone is 1.41 metres (4 feet 8 
inches) high, and 0.54 metres (about 
21 inches) broad. 

While at Tehuacan, in the State of 
Puebla, I met Indians from Orizaba, 
They speak the Nahuatl, but with a 
Figure i. more guttural sound than usual, and 

they appear slow of speech. In view of the actual degene- 
racy of the Nahuatl idiom, the question suggests itself whether 
this peculiarity of sound in the utterance of Indians who 
live more secluded than the glib tongued aborigines of the 
plains of Puebla, with their soft labial and lingual pronun- 
ciation, is not perhaps the result of a purer preservation of 




1 Art of War and Mode of Warfa7'e ; also, Social Organization and Mode of 
Government of the Ancient Mexicans. 

2 Native Races, etc., vol. iv. pp. 435, 436. 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 27 

the language on the part of the former.^ The Indians of the 
mountains about Orizaba — not those seen in or about the 
city so mucli as those living outside of it — show two pecu- 
liarities, shared by them in common with other Nahuatl 
pueblos of the Sierra de Zongolica.^ One is the wearing 
of long sidelocks, melenas, corresponding exactly to the me- 
lotes of the New-Mexican " Pueblos," and declared by the 
latter to be a peculiar token of their being sedentary Indians.^ 
The other is the tzoh-mitl,^ an earthbrown sarape, often fast- 
ened around the waist by a girdle or cincture. It is of a 
coarse thick wool, very appropriate to the high altitudes in 
which its wearers commonly live. 

From Orizaba the ascent by the road increases in steep- 
ness, and the scenery grows correspondingly wilder. The 
graceful palms gradually disappear, and beyond Maltrata the 
rise becomes extremely rapid. We are left in doubt as to 
what should be most admired, — the sublime grandeur of 
Nature, or the remarkable efforts of man to improve every 
chance, every inch almost, for establishing safe rapid tran- 
sit. As the road winds up from the valley of Maltrata in 
daring curves, along precipices the very thought of which 
might turn weak heads, we forget the depth of the chasm, 
the proximity of the brink, because everywhere tropical veg- 
etation has secured a foothold, gracing a dangerous ledge 
with radiant blossoms, softening dizzy slopes with a mellow 

1 There is a striking difference between tlie pronunciation of the Indians of 
Orizaba and those of Puebla and vicinity. The former speak in a more infan- 
tile manner. 

2 The Sierra de Zongolica extends south of the volcano of Orizaba until 
near Tehuacan. 

3 Helena is an old Spanish word signifying about the same as " sidelocks." 
It is singular that the Pueblos of New Mexico and the Indians of Mexico 
should have the same characteristic " cut " of hair. It is met with, however, 
only among the remoter Pueblos of the Sierra. 

* The word is not in the vocabularies. I give it as I heard it spoken. 



28 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

tint of green. If the same heights were bare, they would be 
awful ; here they are only bewitching. As we look down to 
a constantly increasing depth, the green valleys contract, and 
the village-plats dwindle to miniature ground-plans, — finally 
to mere spots. We pass through tunnel after tunnel, until at 
last Boca del Monte is reached ; the air blows cool, even 
chilly ; dark pines cover the mountain-sides ; and on our right, 
towers, in close proximity, the summit of the volcano of 
Orizaba. 

Less than nine hours of travel have carried us through 
three zones, representing a vertical stratum of 2,500 metres 
(8,300 feet), but with a horizontal basis of less than 80 kilo- 
metres (50 miles English). Along this route, we have passed 
through a series of changes, in vegetation and climate, of the 
most striking character. These changes, and consequent 
contrasts, are characteristic of Central Mexico, and they 
have exercised a powerful influence on mankind. To over- 
come them, certain advances in knowledge, a certain progress 
in mechanical arts, are absolutely needed ; otherwise the 
groups of settlers, established in favorable positions, remain 
secluded from each other, and each group tends to form local 
types which, in course of time, may exhibit great changes 
from the original features. This may take place as well in 
language as in physical constitution ; and in treating of the 
linguistics or craniology of Mexico this fact should never be 
lost sight of. 

The Tierra Fria, or " cold region," through which the road 
passes after leaving Boca del Monte becomes, in the vi- 
cinity of Esperanza, a cold, rather barren looking highland, 
without any of the wildly picturesque scenery of the lower 
mountains ; but the change is so sudden that its very bleak- 
ness, — with enormous prickly pears, dwarfish and ill-shapen 
palms, and tall maguey plants as types of vegetation, and 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 



29 



the gigantic pyramid of Orizaba towering in full view to 
the East, — has the eftect of a saccessf Lilly performed change 
in theatrical scenery. However remarkable and strange the 
appearance of this region is at first sight, it grows very monot- 
onous as it becomes familiar. The air is cold, especially at 
daybreak, when clouds of mist rise from the lower fields and 
roll up to the summit of the volcano, there to be dispelled by 
the rising sun. It is particularly cheerless and dismal if, 
later in the day, clouds settle on the high tops and gradually 
sink until the lower slopes alone are visible, while an icy wind 
from the East drives the shivering stranger into the comfort- 
able rooms of Mr. Pierre Maurel's station hotel. We instinc- 
tively feel that this high plateau is ill fitted for the abode of 
man, and are not surprised to learn that the remains of aborig- 
inal occupation are not numerous. The gentlemen whom I 
consulted informed me that there were some tlalteles or teteles, 
— little mounds of stone supposed to mark burial places/ — 
in the hills around Esperanza, and that on a high eminence 
about 7 kilometres (4 miles) southeast of the station the 
remains of " fortifications " are still visible. I must here 
remark that terms derived from a more advanced kind of 
architecture, while, of course, commonly used by natives as 
well as by foreigners for the description of ruins, should 
alwa3^s be accepted as comparative only, and never as abso- 
lutely descriptive. 

The Indian population, which is of the Nahuatl stock, scat- 
ters itself around the peak of Orizaba very much as the val- 
leys radiating from that central eminence expand in their 
downward course.^ It is scanty near Esperanza. There are 

^ These tetclcs are well described by Professor Gumesindo Mendoza, " Idolo 
Azteca de Tipo Chino," in Anales del Miiseo Nacional de Mexico, vol. i. pp. 39, 
40. Those teteles which I saw, near Atlixco, were of stone, — in fact rude stone- 
heaps ; but they may have become shapeless through decay. 

2 Orozco y Berra Geogra/ia, etc., p. 211. 



30 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

some pueblos which, like San Andres Chalchicomula, are 
very thriving. The large Jiaciendas, however, are exclusively 
in the hands of Creoles, Spaniards, or French settlers, and 
the influence exercised by the " Hacendados," in a quiet, 
seemingly unobtrusive manner, is of great moment. 

The houses of the aborigines are of the same shape as 
those of the coast, — rectangular, with roofs at a high pitch, 
— but the material of which they are built is changed to suit 
the climate. The walls are frequently of adobe or stone, and 
the roofs, instead of being of thatch or palm-leaves, are made 
of boards (similar to our common clap-boards,) fastened with 
two wooden nails. The same kind of roof I noticed, subse- 
quently, on a few houses east of the great volcano of Mexico, 
Popoca-tepetl, and particularly in the territory of the for- 
mer tribe of Chalco, on the western dechvity of the same 
mountain. 

In the months of June and July the desert landscape of this 
plateau becomes, not enlivened, but, so to say, broken up, by 
the appearance of the high stalks of the flowering maguey, or 
agave. These stalks, surmounted by a whorl of dull-colored 
blossoms, are visible at a great distance. 

After traversing a country very similar to the surroundings 
of Esperanza, a downward grade is struck beyond San Mar- 
cos, and the insensible decline to the central basin of Mexico 
begins. It is very gradual, and the changes in vegetation 
appear only in the frequency of the maguey as a " culture 
plant," and in the occasional presence of the copal-quahuitl, 
pirii, or gum-tree.^ More and more the Malinche becomes 
prominent above the surrounding landscape. This isolated 
peak, in the recesses of whose summit snow remains at all 
seasons of the year, although unseen from the base, rises ac- 
cording to Almazan 4,107 metres (13,470 feet English) above 

1 Schinus molle. 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 31 

sea-level.^ It was long the object of superstitious worship by 
the aborigines living at its base,^ and was claimed and held by 
the tribe of Tlaxcallan.^ The home of the Tlaxcaltecos, whose 
territory we enter near Huamantla, lies about 25 kilometres 
(16 miles) W.N.W. of the Malinche. Tlaxcala itself is at 
present in a deep valley, surrounded by bald ridges, the old 
pueblo extending to some of their slopes. Tlaxcala has occu- 
pied in history a very conspicuous place. Owing to a mis- 
conception of aboriginal institutions it has been palmed off as 
a kind of Mexican Switzerland, as a free republic in the midst 
of despotically ruled communities. Such was not the case. 
There was not the slightest fundamental difference between 
the social organization and mode of government of the Tlax- 
caltecos and that of the Mexican tribe;* but the exceptional 
geographical position of the latter, and the natural barrenness 
of their land,^ led them to seek means of subsistence from 
abroad. The confederacy of tribes grew out of tribal organi- 

1 Map of the State of Puebla. It is the only statement of the altitude of the 
Malinche which I have found. How far it is reliable I am not able to say. 

2 Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., lib. iii. cap. xvi. p. 276. 

3 But not exclusively. Neither was it, as has been supposed, their main 
place of refuge. The distance is too great, and the ground intervening unfavor- 
able for defence. It was the ridge, or ridges, above Tlaxcala, upon which the 
Indians retired for safety. 

* The Tlaxcaltecos were organized in four localized //^ra/rz>J-, like the Mexi- 
cans. Two elective chiefs, — that is, elective in regard to the individual, but 
with herediiy of office in a certain gens, — formed the nominal head of the 
tribe. The true directive power, however, lay in the Council of the tribe. 
The tribe of Mexico had a similar organization. What created an apparent dis- 
similarity was the Confederacy of the Valley-tribes, with its chief-captain always 
taken from the Mexicans. As, in the single tribe, the war-chief office was he- 
reditary in the gens, so, in the confederacy, the same office became hereditary in 
the tribe. 

5 The Mexican tribe was limited to a small area of cultivable land. It was, 
therefore, comparatively destitute of the means of subsistence. The Tlaxcalte- 
cos, on the other hand, controlled a veritable " bread-country," as the name mn- 
plies. In the course of less than two hundred years the roles were changed, 
through the murderous activity of the former and the lack of energy of the 
latter. 



32 ARCHAEOLOGICAL LXSTITUTE. 

zation, and the greater ability of the inhabitants of the Central 
Valley gave to their confederacy a power of aggression su- 
perior to that of any other aboriginal cluster in the same 
country.! -p^-^g Valley tribes, of course, assailed the Tlaxcal- 
tecos, and the latter withstood their attacks ; but it is an utter 
mistake to look, for a parallel of these wars, to the campaigns 
of Xerxes against the Greeks, or to those of Charles of Bur- 
gundy against the Swiss. In order to understand them, a 
study of the donquests, or rather devastations, by the Iroquois 
in the seventeenth century, will furnish the best material.^ 
The Tlaxcaltecos were as much the equals of the ]\Iexicans, 
in savage craft, cunning, and ferocity, as were the Hurons 
and Andastes of the Iroquois ; but while the Mexicans, hke 
the Iroquois, looked to strengthening their confederacy as the 
means of increase in power, and consequent security of sub- 
sistence,'^ the Tlaxcaltecos remained stationary in tribal isola- 
tion, although the material for a most powerful confederacy 
lay within their easy reach.'^ Their territor}-, at the outlets 

1 There is no intimation of any otiier confederacy of tribes in Mexico, of a 
permanent cliaracter, except, perhaps, among the Totonacos. It is trne that 
we know little about Michhuacan as yet. Tlaxcala never rose to the thought 
of a confederacy of the valley of Puebla, in opposition to that of the valley of 
Mexico. 

2 Lewis H. Morgan, League of the Iroquois, book i. pp. S-14. It is not 
without a deep feeling of gratitude, as well as of affection, that I quote this 
work. Those who know of my relations to its recently deceased author can 
realize what I feel, at this time, in citing the earliest work of one so dear to me. 
Francis Parkman, ( IVw ycsuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century, 3d 
edition, 1S68, cap. xxiii. pp. 336-34S; cap. xxxiii. pp. 434-445), has sketched in 
an inimitable manner the unstable character of the so-called conquests of the 
Iroquois ; and if, in the writings of my beloved teacher and paternal friend Mor- 
gan, I found the basis for understanding the organization and mode of life of the 
Mexicans, it is in the works of Mr. Parkman, to whom personally I have become 
not less attached, that I found the natural parallelism between the forays of the 
Iroquois and the so-called conquests of the Mexican confederacy. 

3 W. H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, 1S69, book i. cap. i. 
pp. iS-20. 

■* An alliance between Tlaxcallan, Huexotzinco, Cholula, and Atlixco would 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. "3 

of its narrow longitudinal valleys, spread into fertile fields ; 
their mountain ridges afforded safe retreats. On their own 
ground, thoroughly known to them, the Tlaxcaltecos of course 
proved most successful, but they took no steps indicating any 
forecast whatever. Thus they failed to confederate perma- 
nently with the tribes of Cholula and Huexotzinco.i and 
showed unpardonable indifference toward the inhabitants of 
the gulf-coast.2 Had not the Spaniards arrived in the very 
" nick of time," there is no doubt but that the Tlaxcaltecos 
would have fallen a prey, and deservedly too, to the Valley 
Confederates of Mexico. 

The route which Cortes followed on his march towards 
Tlaxcallan must be intersected by the railroad somewhere 
near the station of Huamantla, if, as the reports of the 
conquerors indicate, they passed by the pueblo of Jalacingo 
(Xalatzinco) in the State of Vera Cruz.^ At least, that 
would be the nearest and most convenient route. Vestiges 
of the famous wall should therefore be looked for to the west 
or northwest of the Cofre de Perote. As yet, however, these 
are mere surmises. But the existence of this wall is not 
a subject for doubt ; nor is it an exceptional structure in 
Mexico. Similar constructions are reported as existing in 
the seventeeth century in the country of the Mixtecos of the 
State of Oaxaca,^ and I have myself found in that State, near 

have been a league between self-supporting tribes, — which was not the case in 
the valley proper ; but it seems as if the very fact that each one had enough to 
live upon was one of the reasons why they remained isolated. 

1 There are indications that temporary alliances were formed ; Torquemada 
Alonarchia, etc , lib. ii. cap. xlix. pp. 161, 162; but they were mostly between 
Huexotzinco and Cholula or Atlixco. Duran, Historia, etc., vol. i. cap. Ivii. 
PP- 450-45- ; cap. Iviii. pp. 462, 463. Tezozomoc, Cronica, etc., cap. xci. 
pp. 610, 611. 

2 Duran, Historia, etc., cap. xxi. pp. 181-1S5; cap. .xxiv. p. 203. Tezozomoc, 
Cronica, etc., cap. xxxi. p. 326; cap. xxxiv. p. 343; cap. .xxxv. p. 347. 

^ Bernal Diez, Historia vcrdadera, etc., cap. Ixii. p. 65. 

* Fray Francisco de Burgoa, Geogrdfica Descripcion de la Parte Septentrional 

3 



34 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 



what is called the Pueblo Viejo, or " old village," of Tlacolula, 
dry-stone barricades ^ closing gaps between steep hills. 

Huamantla lies on a higl\ plain along the northern base of 
the Malinche. As viewed from it, the summit of that moun- 
tain appears, in all its ruggedness, like a cluster of pictur- 
esque crags. The true aboriginal name for the IMalinche is 
" Matlal-cueitl," - — the word Malinche being a corruption of 
]Maliiitzi}i, the Nahuatl pronunciation for Marina (the r being 
changed to /), with the diminutive, tziii, equivalent to the 
Spanish ito, as an endearing particle affixed.^ 

Beyond Huamantla the traveller is treated to a change in 
scenery again, and one of very peculiar nature. Two remark- 
able sights burst into view almost simultaneously ; the two 
great volcanic peaks of Mexico, looming up behind the bleak 
ridges of Tlaxcala like immense monuments ; and the extensive 
fields of maguev, or pulqiic plant, which cover the ground 
very nearly to the valley proper. 

del Polo Arctico de la America, y N'liez'a Iglesia de las Indias Occidentales,y Sitio 
Asironomico de esta Proz>mcia de Predicadores de Anteqiiera, Valle de Oaxaca. 
Mexico, 1674; Parte Segunda, cap. xxili. p. 12S: "y regastados de sus victo- 
rias, V multiplicandose en su descendencia, se estendian a las Serranias vezinas 
formando murallas por los passes mas sospechosos que podia entrarles el ene- 
migo, el dia de oy esta un cerro que coge mas de una legua de piedra, y lodo 
seguida por los altos, y vagios de los montes, y quebrados, que admira a los que 
la ven, y que despues de tantos siglos de la gentilidad persevera." 

1 Not only there, but at the place called Jio, or Fuerte, near Mitla; but 
the walls are more remarkable at the Pueblo Viejo, since there they close 
gaps, and impede, not an ascent to, but a descent upon, the former village. We 
have no recent report concerning the wall of the Tlaxcaltecos, and therefore 
do not know whether it was dry-stone or not. The expression " cal y canto " is 
not decisive. 

2 Afatlalateye, according to some authors. 

s The particle tzin (not to be confounded with the plural tin) has been 
regarded as a " reverencial." I have become satisfied that it is a diminutive 
only, and that it perfectly corresponds to the Spanish ito. Thus " totatzin " 
= padrecito ; " tenantzin " = madrecita. Tlaxcalla/i, and its diminutive Tlax- 
callantzinco = " the place of little Tlaxcallan." Tula and Tulantzinco, Tczcoco, 
and Tezcodngo, etc. There is a vast difference between such an affectionate, 
familiar addition and a " reverencial particle." 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 35 

The appearance of the two volcanoes of Mexico is more 
striking than that of Orizaba. The most northerly, or Yztac- 
cihuatl, or Yztac-tepetl, commonly called the Sierra Ne- 
vada,^ presents a serrated ridge covered with perpetual snow, 
and resting on a broad platform which very gradually de- 
scends into dark forests. The height of its northern sum- 
mit is given by Garci'a-Cubas at 4,775 metres (15,662 feet). 
The Popoca-tepetl,^ commonly called El Volcan, lies south 
of the former, and therefore at a greater distance from the 
railroad. It appears as a perfect cone, slightly truncated, 
or rather with a cup-shaped summit. This concavity is 
the line of the crater, here visible lengthwise ; whereas 
from Puebla (whence Plate IX. is taken) it disappears, 
the top of the mountain rising above it to a sharp point. 
The height of the volcano has been determined by Miguel 
M. Ponce de Leon, trigonometrically, at 5,391 metres (17,682 
feet) ; it thus appears to be the highest point of Mexico.^ 
Its slopes, of a dark gray below the irregular and con- 
stantly changing snow-line,* are much more denuded than 

^ The name Yztac-cihuatl signifies " white woman," and has its origin on the 
west side of the volcanoes. There, from Amecameca for instance, the great 
mountain appears strilvingly like a female lying on her back with a white 
shroud thrown over her. From the side of Puebla, the name Yztac-tepetl — 
" white mountain " — prevails. As such it is mentioned by Gabriel de Rojas, 
Relacion de Chohila, MS. of 1581, belonging to Senor D. J. Garcia-Icazbalceta. 
The word Sierra Nevada = " snow-covered saw " (from siet'ra = " saw "), and is 
exceedingly characteristic. (Plate IV.) 

2 " Smoke-mountain." 

3 Brantz-Mayer, Mexico as it Was and as it Is, p. 215, gives the following 
measurements of its height : 

Berbeck, loth Nov., 1837, 5,443 metres = 17,852 feet English. 
Glennie, 20th April, 1837, 5,451 " = 17,883 " " 

W. Bullock (Six Months' Residence and Travels in Mexico, 1824, p. 444), gives the 
height at 17,875 feet. The mean of Dollfus's measurements, in 1865, is 5,423 
metres (17,787 feet English) ; Geogr. Mittheilungen, 1868, p. 98. 

* It is hardly possible to establish a regular line of perpetual snow on the 
great volcano. I have seen, in the months of February, March, and April, the 



36 ARCH.-EOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

those of the Yztac-cihuatl. The two summits are connected 
by an apparently wooded ridge, which presents itself like 
a deep gap, notwithstanding its mean altitude of 3.000 metres 
(about 10,000 feet),^ so that they shoot up in bold relief like 
perfectly isolated masses. Their bases are hidden by the 
lower mountains extending northward from the Yztac-cihuatl ;"-^ 
and the railroad rounds the outer spur of these ranges, in 
order to descend into the valley of Mexico from the north- 
east. We therefore see the volcanoes, in the course of six 
hours, successively from the east, northeast, north, and finally, 
upon reaching the city of INIexico, from the northwest. 

Upon leaving the State of Tlaxcala we enter the plains 
of Apam, or Apan, in the State of Hidalgo, famous for 
being the home, par excellence, of that variety of the ma- 
gue\-. or Agave Auiericatia, which produces the best pulque 
fresco, in contradistinction to the pulque ealieiitc, a coarse, 
ill-flavored beverage. 

Pulque is strictly an aboriginal beverage, an Indian drink, 
and the art of its production antedates the Conquest; but 
the word itself, like the word maguey, does not belong to the 
Nahuatl language. It is written pulcrc by Father Bernardino 
Ribeira (better known as Fray Bernardino de Sahagun);^ 

southern slope almost completely free. On the other hand, severe storms occa- 
sionally whiten it in the summer months to a very low altitude. This is not so 
much the effect of snow as of sleet and hail. At all events, the volcano is 
whiter in summer than in winter, owing to the absence of precipitation during 
the latter season. Therefore the proverbial verses : — 

" Antes del dia de San Juan, bajan las aguas del Volcdn ; 
Despues del dia de San Juan, suben al Volcan." 

1 Some of the elevated ridges, like the Cerro Gordo and Cerro de Tlamacaz, 
arc evidently higher. 

- The Sierra de Tlaloc, famed as a place of aboriginal worship, forms a 
part of these lower spurs. 

s The true name of this celebrated teacher and historian of the Indians of 
Mexico was Bernardino Ribeira. He was a native of the village of Sahagun, in 
the kingdom of Leon, Spain. Alfredo Chavero, Sahapirt, Me.xico, 1S77, p. 7. 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 37 

but this does not afford any clew to the orighi of the name. 
The Nahuatl term for the maguey is metl ; ^ and for pulque 
(or fermented liquor, wine, in general), octli?- From the fact 
that the venerable Father above mentioned uses the term 
pulcre freely, we may infer that it came into use at an early 
date, soon after the Conquest ; and was not therefore, as the 
Abbate Clavigero states, an importation from one of the lan- 
guages of Chile,^ but rather one of the many words like cii, 
macana, etc., which the Spaniards introduced and grafted 
into the aboriginal idioms of the mainland, taking them from 
the Arua tongue of Hayti.'* It is also doubtful whether the 
word tlacJiiqiie, used by Sahagun for an aboriginal fermented 
beverage, is not also an importation from the same source.^ 

I shall, of course, continue mentioning him by the name under which he has 
become historical. 

1 Alonzo de, Molina, Vocabiilario en lengiia Castellana y Mexicana, 1571 ; 
part ii. p. 55. 

2 Id., ii. p. 75. The term pulque, or pulcre, is not met with in this valuable 
dictionary. 

3 Sloria di Alessico, vol. ii. pp. 221, 222. 

* At the close of the fourth and last volume of Oviedo, Hisforia General, etc., 
there is a catalogue of American words used by Oviedo, — " Voces Americanas 
empleadas por Oviedo." It says oi pulque, p. 604, " Lengua de Nueva-Espaiia." 
The fact that Oviedo mentions the word militates against the assumption that 
it came from Chile ; but is not a proof that it belongs to Mexico. None of 
the older authors mention it. One of the most circumstantial of these, in his 
description of the maguey and its uses, is Motolinia, Histoi-ia de los Btdios de 
Nueva-Espaha, trat. iii. cap. xi.x. pp. 243-246. He does not use the word 
pulque, but freely speaks of vino. Gabriel de Rojas {Relacion de Cholula, 
MS., 15S1) uses the name, however. Gomara {Segimda Parte de la Cronica, etc., 
Vedia, i. p. 441), while clearly describing pulque, does not give it any name be- 
yond that of vino. Alonzo Zuazo, ( Carta al Padre Fray Luis de Figuei'oa, etc., 
14th Nov., 1521, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Docs., vol. i. p. 361), speaks of " miel 
de maguey." It is very difficult to reach a conclusion in regard to the origin 
of the word, and I am far from giving rny opinion for anything else than a 
suggestion. 

° The word is also pronounced tlachicha, or simply chicha. The latter 
word is given in the vocabulary appended to Oviedo {Historia General, etc., vol. 
iv. p. 59S) as from the language of Cuba. I have tasted a kind of chicha which 
is truly excellent, being made of barley, sugar, and slices of pine-apple, which 



^8 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

There are a great many varieties of pulque ; but they 
simply denote peculiar flavoring ingredients, and not any 
difference in the manner of making. Since the Conquest, 
the Indians having become acquainted also with the art of 
distillation, the flower-stalks of a smaller species of maguey 
have been used for producing the mezcal} The soft internal 
parts of a beautiful, brocoli-like agave — which grows pro- 
fusely in the States of Jalisco and Guanajuato, but is also 
found in Oaxaca — are washed and distilled, and a perfectly 
limpid, colorless liquor thus secured, which bears a strong 
resemblance in taste to the Swiss Kirschwasser. 

But besides its use for the production of strong beverages, 
the maguey plant is employed also for the manufacture of 
textile fabrics. The plains of Apam grow the ixtli, of which 
a kind of tissue was prepared, even before the Conquest, 
which was a valuable substitute for cotton cloth, and more 
extensively used than the latter.^ 

It is a curious spectacle to see the maguey extending in 

have fermented for a number of days. The fact that barley is used indicates 
that this kind of chicha is of modern origin. 

1 The mezcal also has numerous flavored varieties. There is a great 
difference between what is called mezcal among the wild Indians of the 
Southwestern United States, and the colorless tnezcal or vino de tequila of 
actual Mexico. The former is a boiled and fermented liquor, the latter a 
product of the still. But it appears that the Mexicans, previous to the Con- 
quest, prepared a mezcal similar to that used by the Comanches, by boiling the 
juice of the maguey. See Motolinia, Historia de los Itzdios, etc., trat. iii. cap. 
xix. p. 244 ; Oviedo, Historia General, etc., vol. i. lib. xi. cap. xi. p. 384. The 
latter even speaks of a distillation. 

2 Motolinia, Historia, etc., p. 244 : " Sacan tambien de el vestido y calzado ; 
. . . y hacen mantas y capas ; todo de este metl 6 maguey." Sahagun, Historia 
General, etc., vol. iii. lib. x. cap. xx'. pp. 48, 49. Duran, Historia, etc., vol. i. cap. 
xxvi. p. 215: "Toda la demas gente, so pena de la vida, salio determinado que 
nenguno usase de algodon ni se pusiese otras mantas sino de nequen." My 
friend, Dr. Phil. J. J. Valentini, has, in one of his admirable monographs, shown 
the part which the washed fibre of the agave played in the preparation of Mexi- 
can paper. " Mexican Paper," in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 
Oct. 21, iSSo, pp. 69-73. 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 39 

endless rows up denuded slopes and down broad valleys, in 
the midst of, or hedging in, fields of wheat or barley. This 
is the aspect of the Llanos de Apam. The distant hills 
or mountains appear almost barren ; no watercourses trickle 
through the otherwise fertile soil, for water in the shape 
of brooks and rivers is, on the whole, the great desidera- 
tum of Mexico. The extensive buildings of large haciendas 
loom up at intervals like small villages ; pueblos conceal 
themselves beneath groves of copal trees, and among hedges 
of columnar cacti, intermingled with the broad-leaved 7iopal, 
or prickly pear.^ The ground is thoroughly occupied, or 
rather owned ; but it is owned by few, and is but slowly 
improved by them. 

The line of retreat taken by Cortes after his disastrous sally 
from Mexico on the ist of July, 1520, known as the Noche 
Triste^ is said to have been across the plains of Apam. 
There is a tradition that at the Barranca del Muerto, a 
shallow creek-bed between Apizacoand Otumba, the principal 
engagement was fought between the Spaniards and the In- 
dians, before the escape of the former into the country of 
Tlaxcallan. It is evident that the Mexicans selected a very 
bad place for the engagement, for it is a perfectly level 
plain ; but it is also evident that they could not have pursued 
Cortes much further without exposing themselves to attack 
from the mountain tribes. 

After rounding the most northerly spur of the mountains 
near Ometusco, Otumba (Otompan) is reached, or rather the 
station La Palma, where passengers for the latter place de- 
scend. The last scene of the great " running fight," begin- 

1 The fruits of these opuntm are not only very palatable but also very 
wholesome. 

2 The description of the country through which they retreated is remarkably 
plain and effective. Compare Cortes, Carta Scgiinda, pp. 45, 46; Bernal Diez, 
Historia Verdadera, etc., cap. cxxviii. pp. 137, 13S,— particularly the former. 



40 



ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 



ning at Mexico on the ist of July, 1520, and closing (if 
tradition may be trusted) at the Barranca del Muerto, seven 
days afterwards, has been distorted and magnified into the 
" great battle of Otumba." ^ Neither the locality nor the 
character of the event justify such a title. It was evidently 
the last ambush prepared by the Indians for Cortes, — not in 
accordance with a general military plan, but simply by the 
inhabitants of the pueblos, which he approached successively, 
meeting him in arms whenever they were not afraid of his 
still dreaded weapons.^ I endeavored some time since, in 
another place, to reduce the "battle of Otumba" to its true 
proportions ; namely,^ from the size of an engagement like 
that of the Granicus or even Arbela, to that of General 
Custer's unfortunate encounter with the Sioux ; and I have 
found no cause for change of opinion, after seeing the locality 
several times. The result of the fight, favorable to Cortes, 
always remains highly creditable to his bravery and to that 
of his meUo The episode about the bearer of a token being 
struck down, and his fall deciding the fight, is completely in 
accordance with Indian modes of warfare.^ Cortes fought 
himself out of destruction ; at later periods, various other 
ofificers, not less brave, and under other circumstances per= 
haps equally skilful, have fought themselves into it.^ But 

1 Bernal Diez, Historia, etc., cap. cxxviii. pp. 136, 137. It is interesting 
to compare this author's pompous tales with the plain, matter-of-fact report of 
Cortes, Carta Scgunda, pp. 45 46. 

2 Cortes, Carta Scgunda, p. 45. 

3 Art of War and Mode of Warfare, p. 155 and Note 204. I instance the fight 
that proved fatal to General Custer, which, in respect of the numbers engaged, 
probably will bear good comparison with that of the soldiers of Cortes and the 
Indians whom they repulsed. 

* The fall of a war captain, or chief, often determines the result of an engage- 
ment. 

5 The Spaniards had no artillery left ; so that it became, for a short time, a 
hand-to-hand encounter. It was, at all events, one of the worst straits in which 
the conquerors ever were placed, though far from as bad as the N'oche Triste. 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 41 

the fight in the plains of Apam is but a sample of aboriginal 
warfare in every part of the continent.^ 

While the present inhabitants of the region of Otumba 
belong to Nahuatl stock, it is not unreasonable to suggest 
that at some previous time this district may have been largely 
peopled by Otomites. The word Otompan itself seems to 
indicate it.^ Although the Otomi are a relatively widely 
scattered linguistical stock, we know in fact very little of 
them. Their language has been studied to some extent ; ^ 
but their true position in the ethnography of Mexico, their 
past history and relations towards other tribes, are almost 
totally unknown. While they are frequently regarded as a 
people of low standard by older writers, we should not for- 
get that one of the titles given by the Mexicans to their mer- 
itorious braves was that of Otomite, The meaning of this 
name I have given elsewhere as " wandering arrow." ^ This 
was certainly not the name which the tribe claimed for 
itself. They are said to have called their language " Hia- 
hiu," ^ with a nasal inflection. We must not forget that 

i Compare the skirmishes with the Tlaxcaltecos, the fights of Montejo with 
the Maya Indians of Yucatan, the engagements on the plateau of Ecuador 
between Benalcazar and the Peruvians, the first campaigns of Valdivia against 
the Araucans, with our Northern Indian warfare from the time of the earhest 
settlements down to the present year. 

- Signifying "place of the Otomi." Motolini'a, Historia, etc, p. 9: "y las 
provincias de ToUan y Otompa casi todas son de ellos." Torquemada {Mon- 
archia, etc., lib. ii. cap. xxxix. p. 144), besides identifying the OtomJes with the 
Chichimecas ("que eran de Chichimecas, que son los que ahora llaman 
Otomies "), mentions both as inhabitants of Otompa (lib. ii. cap. vi. p. 86). 
These are but two quotations on the subject, but more are not needed, as the 
fact is generally admitted. 

3 There are several grammars and vocabularies extant, though not a single 
recent one. 

4 Art of War and Mode of Warfare, p. 117 and note 86. This meaning 
has been accepted by Dr, A. Bastian, Die Culturlaender des Alien Amerika, 
vol. ii. p. 6S0, note r. 

s Fray Manuel Crisostomo Naxera, Dlseriacion sobre la Lengiia Othoim, 
1S45, p 3. 



42 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 



many of the names by which the aboriginal idioms of Mexico 
are now called, are not taken from those idioms themselves, 
but borrowed by the whites from the Nahuatl. Thus we 
are ignorant of the names by which the most important 
tribes of Mexico called themselves. Such names as Tza- 
poteco, Mixteco, Cuicateco, Chinanteco, Mazateco," ^ and 
others are, like Otomi, originally Nahuatl, and not the proper 
native terms. In fact we have, in consequence of a miscon- 
ception of the condition of aboriginal Mexico, viewed all fea- 
tures too exclusively from the standpoint of a single tribe, 
or linguistical group of tribes, — the Nahuatl. 

This presence of the Mexican language, almost every- 
where, as a disturbing element in the study of the aboriginal 
history of Mexico, is again exemplified in connection with 
the important ruins at San Juan Teotihuacan, which place 
the railroad passes beyond Otumba. While the name Teo- 
tihuacan is Nahuatl,- the confused traditions concerning the 
origin of the ruins ascribe them to an entirely different 
tribe.^ Only one remnant is left of another, older, aborigi- 

1 All these words are Nahuatl. Tzapoteca, ^^ n\2ia. who gathers tzapotes ;" 
Mixteco, " dweller in foggy regions ; " Cuicateco, " man of the place of songs ; " 
Chinanteco " man who makes enclosures ; " Mazateco, " man who carves deer." 
These are literal renderings ; but the derivations become much more simple 
yet if we admit tecatl to be, in every case, but the gentile form of a local name, 
as Buschmann [Aztekische Ortsiiamen, pp. 12, 15-1S, 19, etc.) states. Whether 
tecatl has always that signification in tribal or personal names is yet very doubt- 
ful. The aboriginal title, tlacatecatl, " cutter of men," should not be forgotten. 

- Sahagun [Historia General, etc., lib. x. cap. xxix. p. 141) says "Teutihuacan." 
Buschmann {Aztekische Ortsnamen, etc.) completely ignores this local name. 
Still, the word is so evidently composed of teotl, " god " (or rather contains 
this word so unquestionably), that we cannot fail to give it a Nahuatl origin. 

3 That the Pyramids of Teotihuacan date from a period anterior to that 
of the Mexicans, or Nahuatl in general, results from the fact that no striking 
mention is made of them in connection with the specifically Mexican traditions. 
The place, in the two centuries which preceded the Conquest, does not play a 
part corresponding to the magnitude of its ruins. This shows that the edifices 
were already abandoned at the time of the Conquest. Besides, those authors 
who have been, so to say, the " inventors " of the Toltecs, ascribe the mounds 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 43 

nal name for the place, in the statement that it was also 
called Tula, or Tulha, Tollan, Tollam, — and this name has 
been explained to signify " place of reeds," or " place of 
the Toltecs." ^ In both cases it is regarded as of Nahuatl 
origin ; but no attention has been paid to the contingency 
that it might be derived from an entirely different idiom. 
Further on I shall allude to the surmise that the Maya term 
tidoom, toloom^ may be the origin of the widely scattered 
word tula, and consequently of the name Toltecs. The 
latter term would be derived, according to a Mexican vo- 
cabulary, from tolliii, a species of reeds or canes {tiUe)^ 
and tecatl, "cutter" (from nitla-teqiii, "to cut");* therefore 
" cutters of reeds or canes." ^ But the art of gathering 
reeds, and even of working them into the most useful and 

of Teotihuacan very clearly to that tribe. Ixtlilxochitl, Histoire dcs Chichimeqties, 
vol. i. cap. ii. p. 25 ; Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., lib. i. cap. xiv. p. i"]. Not 
even the Anales de Cuaithtitlan, so far as published, make any mention of the 
place. Anales del Miiseo JVacional, vols. i. and ii. 

1 Buschmann [Aztekische Ortsnamen, p. 76) derives Tollan from tolin, 
"reed." For "place of reeds" the word tultitlan is also used. Sahagun 
{Historia General, vol. i. lib. iii. cap. iv. p. 245, cap. viii. p. 252, cap. xii. 
p. 255; vol. iii. lib. x. cap. xxix. pp. 106, 108, no, 113, 142) writes mostly 
Tullan and also Tulla {hoy tula). The Anales de Cuauhtitla^i use the word 
Tollan; also Motolinia, Historia de los Indios, etc., p. 5. Juan de Tobar 
{Relacion del Origen de los Indios que habitan esta Nueva Espagna, segun sus 
Historias, published as an anonymous work under the title of Codice Ramirez, 
p. 24) says Tula : " Que quiere decir juncia 6 espadaiia." Duran, {Historia de 
las Yndias, vol. ii. cap. Ixxix. p. 75,) uses both Ttila and Tollan on the same 
page. Torquemada variously uses Tollan, Tula, and Tullan. But the ety- 
mology, " place of reeds," while it is undoubtedly correct to a certain extent, 
still lacks clearness in some respects. The etymology, "place of the Tol- 
tecs," does not agree with the explanation given of the word Toltecatl as an 
" artisan," or " skilful worker." I shall refer to the point hereafter. 

2 In connection with it, I call attention to the fact that the Relacion de Cho- 
lula of Gabriel de Rojas (MS. 1581) writes Tullam, also Tollain. 

3 Molina, Vocabulario, ii. p. 148. 

4 Id. ii. p. 105. 

5 I refer to the word Tlacatecatl. Duran, Historia de las Yndias, yo\.\. 
cap. xi. p. 102 : " El segundo ditado era Tlacatecal que se compone este ditado 
de tlacatl, ques persona y deste verbo teq2ii, ques cortar 6 cercenar . . ." 



44 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 



pleasing shapes, is not of sufficient moment to warrant our 
giving to the word Toltecatl the current and proper sig- 
nification of " a master of mechanical arts," ^ as which it 
has passed into history. It appears more likely that the 
Maya word tuloovi, toloom, indicating a stone structure, wall, 
or enclosure of durable make, taken by the Mexicans or 
Nahuatl tribes from their predecessors on this soil, and 
connected with the verb ''to cut" ("to break," or "to 
shape"), may be the etymolog}^ In that case the great 
mounds at San Juan Teotihuacan would be a work of the 
Maya. 

The two great mounds, not altogether improperly called 
Pyramids, are seen very plainly and to full advantage from 
the railroad track. They are very conspicuous objects, and 
the highest of them is probably also the highest aboriginal 
structure in America, provided that it is all artificial. While 
passing by Teotihuacan several times, I lacked the disposition 
to pay it a cursory visit. The impression which the huge 
eminences (under the supposition, not yet proven, that they 
are largely if not exclusively artificial) "^ made upon my mind 
was, that an examination by detailed measurements of the 
whole valley in which they lie, including the mountain slopes, 
could alone give an accurate idea of the nature of these 
monuments. Such a study would have required more time 
than I could spare ; and a brief visit, while it might result in 
some discovery of interest, \vould in the end only have proved 
deceptive. Nothing short of exhaustive, systematic research, 
necessarily limited to a small area at a time, or a wide, 
detailed survey, can secure proper scientific results. Isolated 

1 Molina, Vocabiilario, ii. p. 14S; Relacion de Cholula, IMS. 15S1; Sahagun, 
Historia General, etc., vol. iii. lib. x. cap. xxix. p. 107 ; and others. 

- The point is, as stated, still in doubt. A very excellent and trustworthy 
observer. Dr. Palmer, is, as has been stated to me, of opinion that the mounds 
are natural eminences, shaped and graded artificially. 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 



45 



discoveries, while tliey should of course be most thankfully 
received and appreciated, have as yet only the value of 
geographical guide-posts, and of useful warnings against pre- 
mature theorizing. 

Near the little pueblo of Tepechpam the railroad strikes 
the shores of Lake Tezcoco, and enters the great central basin 
of Mexico. On the opposite beach the town of Tezcoco 
glistens along the placid waters of the lake, which reflects the 
white buildings in its liquid mirror. The sight is charming 
as it presents itself at sunset, with the Sierra de Tlaloc ^ 
wrapt in dark blue haze, and at the southeastern extremity 
of the pale-blue water-sheet the gigantic volcanoes looming 
up, blushing under the last kiss of the sun. 

One of the many Indian paintings which Mr. Leon Aubin 
of Paris has secured and preserved during his long residence 
at Mexico, has been christened by him, " Mappe de Tepech- 
pam." We owe its popular reproduction to one of the most 
eminent archaeologists of America, the highly gifted E. G. 
Squier.2 It is one of those many paintings, manufactured after 
the Conquest, which combine the imperfections of aboriginal 
art with explanations in aboriginal language, reduced to writ- 
ing, as taught by the Church. The chronicle which it purports 
to depict reaches as late as 1584. I shall have occasion to re- 
turn to the Mappe de Tepechpam in the course of this report. 

The Valley of Mexico, however beautiful it may appear 
under certain aspects of light, is in fact the remnant, not of a 
deep mountain-lake, but of an enormous marsh, formed by 
the accumulation, without natural outlet, of the waters col- 
lected on the tops and running down the slopes of the high 
ranges surrounding it. In the very centre of the Lake of 

1 The Sierra de Tlaloc, a low mountain ridge connected with the volcanoes, 
was famous as having been the site of a stone idol to which special reverence 
was paid. 

- The copy is not colored, and this somewhat diminishes its value. 



46 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

Tezcoco flat barges or scows sometimes are in danger of 
grounding. The soil, wherever rocks do not protrude, is 
deeply soaked with stagnant water, so that in the city itself 
every superficial digging becomes immediately filled with it. 
It is therefore useless to expect, as spontaneous growth, 
anything but a swamp vegetation ; and the high eucalypti, 
growing in the villages and the city itself, are products of 
cultivation or embellishment since the Conquest, and not of 
Nature.^ It is unjust and unhistorical to ascribe the present 
denudation of the valley to Spanish vandalism. From the 
time the central basin was first peopled, the life of its inhabi- 
tants was a struggle against the encroachments of mountain 
streams upon the solid ground of the valley. The Mexican 
tribe opposed a first barrier to them by constructing the 
famous dikes, and thus transforming the marsh into a huge 
pond.^ Cortes found the space secured for permanent living 
too limited, and began filling up. The result of this was the 
expansion of swamp vegetation, natural to the character of the 
soil,^ under a climate which, while equable, is far from trop- 

1 This fact is very plain. Aside from the public parks in the city, the euca- 
lyptus is found almost exlusively in pueblos only, and along roads. Besides, the 
tree is not properly indigenous. Humboldt {Essai politique, vol. ii. lib. iii. p. 54), 
while speaking of the shade-trees of the valleys, completely omits the eucalyp- 
tus, now so prominent among them. 

2 The first statement of this fact, although it had been foreshadowed already 
by Wilson, is due to Morgan, Ancient Society, part ii. cap. vii. pp. 190, 191. 

3 There is no statement to the effect that the valley of Mexico was ever tim- 
bered. The timber grew, where it still grows, on the mountain slopes ; and there 
it was of course thinned, — perhaps not so recklessly three hundred years ago as 
now in Mexico and in the United States. It is evident that when Cortes began 
filling up for building, the vegetation could not consist, on such patches of land as 
were thus formed, of anything else than low plants, which, previous to giving way 
to culture, certainly looked less prepossessing than the water-sheets formerly 
in existence. We must never forget that Chapultepec, Tacuba, Iztapalapan, 
Mixquic, Mexicaltzinco, Guadalupe, pueblos which now are inland, were then 
on the shore. The intervening space has been filled up meanwhile, not merely 
artificially but naturally, through the water from the surrounding heights filtering 
towards the lake basin. In regard to the change in vegetation, I refer to Bernal 



A RECONNOISSANCE INTO MEXICO. 47 

ical. We must not forget that the city of Mexico, although in 
latitude 19° 25' 45", according to Humboldt ^ lies 2,274 metres 
(7,459 English feet) above sea-level.^ As early as 1553 the 
valley and city were threatened by a dangerous inundation.^ 
The same danger recurred in 1580, 1604, 1607, and 1629.* 
It was only by means of the great canal of Huehuetoca, which 
was begun in 1634, and finally completed, after repeated and 
long interruptions, in 1789,^ that the valley became effectively 
and, so far, permanently drained. 

The descriptions, furnished by eye-witnesses of the Con- 
quest, of the beauty and fertility of the Mexican Valley need 
not surprise us. The effect from a distance, on a clear day, 
in the limpid and transparent sky of these altitudes, is en- 
chanting. To the little band of Spaniards, travelling along 



Diez {Hist, verdadera, etc., cap. lxxx\ai. p. 83), who, speaking of Iztapalapan, 
says : " y dire que en aquella sazon era muy gran pueblo, y que estaba poblada 
la mitad en el agua ; agora en esta sazon esta todo seco, y sumbran donde solia 
ser laguna, y esta de otra manera mudado, que si no le hubiera de antes visto, 
no lo dijera, que no era posible que aquello que estaba lleno de agua este agora 
sembrado de maizales y muy perdido." It is clear that Diez speaks of the win- 
ter, when dry cornfields are never exactly picturesque, and the word perdido is 
not to be interpreted as ''waste," but as "bad looking," " ugly," " homely," — a 
very natural expression on the part of one who only looks to the scenic effect. 
Otherwise, the conversion of a swampy water-sheet into cornfields is not pro- 
perly an act of laying waste on purpose, or of ruthless neglect. 

The same author refers to the cutting of timber complained of by Humboldt. 
Bernal Diez says (cap. ccix. p. 311) : "y han plantado sus tierras y heredades de 
todos los arboles y frutas que hemos traido de Espaha, y venden el fruto que 
procede dello ; y han puesto tantos arboles, que porque los duraznos no son 
buenos para la salud y los platanales les hacen mucha sombra, han cortado y 
cortan muchos, y lo ponen de membrilleros y manzanas, y perales, que los tienen 
en mas estima." This is not vandalism. 

1 Essai politique, etc, vol. i. p. 57. 

2 Geographische Mittheilungen, 1869, p. 230, by Guillemin. 

3 Essai politique, etc., vol. ii. p. 99. 

* Id., vol. ii. lib. iii. cap. viii. p. 99. Other inundations, thwarted by the 
channel of Huehuetoca, threatened in 1648, 1675, ^JO?' 1732, 1748, 1772, I795- 
They appear to have been much more frequent since than before the Conquest. 

^ Id., vol. ii. pp. 1 1 7-1 1 9. 



4S ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITi'TE. 

the lake-shore, by the side of the cultivated patches which 
the Indians had grouped around their pueblos, near the placid 
water, the first which they had seen since leaving the coast, 
the sight must have been charming. And when, through the 
filling up of the marsh, parts of it became transformed into 
sober cornfields, we need not wonder at the regret expressed 
by some respecting the change. It was the feeling which we 
ourselves experience at seeing the picturesque supplanted by 
the useful. 

On this low. swampv ground, with rough slopes to our right, 
we swiftly proceed onward to the southwest. The summits 
of the volcanoes turn to an ashy hue, and finally disappear 
in the darkness of the night; but the sanctuary of Guadalupe 
Hidalgo blazes on the hills of Tepeyacac in gorgeous illumi- 
nation. Half an hour more, and we land at the plain but 
spacious railroad station of the city of Mexico. 

If, until now, I have not strictly limited myself to matters 
within the scope of my scientific task, it has been because 
such digressions were necessary for the understanding of the 
countrv in general, and its nature. The latter has trained and 
moulded its dwellers. Hereafter I shall refer to matters for- 
eign to Archaeology, only in so far as they strictly elucidate 
points of scientific import, and I shall pass unnoticed a num- 
ber of things otherwise of great interest. I wish it distinctly 
understood that apparent deficiencies in this respect are not 
the result of neglect on my part, but of the necessity to limit 
myself, as strictly as possible, to the field of science which I 
was sent to cultivate. 



Part II. 

ARC I-L'EO LOGICAL NOTES ABOUT THE CITY OF MEXICO. 

THE church of San Hipolito Martyr, about two blocks 
{atadras) nearly west of the present Alameda of the 
city, bears a commemorative tablet erected by the munici- 
pahty, with an inscription to the effect that on this spot oc- 
curred the greatest slaughter of the Spaniards, by the Indians, 
during the memorable retreat of Cortes, on the night of June 
30 and July i, 1520. Nearly two blocks further west is the 
" Salto de Alvarado," where Pedro de Alvarado made his 
famous leap, on the same night, over the sluice that cut the 
ancient dike leading to the main land at Tacuba. Com- 
paring these data with the relations extant about the Noche 
Triste, I came to the conclusion that the Indian pueblo of 
Tenochtitlan did not reach further west than the eastern edge 
of the Alameda, or thereabout.^ 

South of the Cathedral, San Antonio Abad, was the place 
called Xoloc,^ where the dike crossing the lagune from Cuyu- 
acan met the dike coming from Iztapalapan. This place was 
then far ootside of the pueblo of Mexico.^ 

1 Compare Bernal Diez, Histo7-ia Vcrdadcra, cap. cxxviii. pp; 134, 135; cap. 
cli. pp. 17S, 179, iSo. Cortes, Carta Scgunda, pp. 43-45. See also Don Joa- 
quin Garcia-Icazbalceta, Mexico en 1554, pp- So, 81, 118, 119. 

2 I refer to the notes, by Archbishop Lorenzana, to the Letters of Cortes. 
Compare in vol. i. of Vedia's Historiadores Primitives, etc., Carta Segunda, p. 24, 
note 8; p. 25, note i. 

^ Xoloc was considered to be half way between the shore and the outskirts 
of Tenochtitlan ; and it is so laid down by Mr. Prescott on the map accompany- 
ing his History of the Conquest of Mexico. Clavigero had previously adopted 
the same view. See also the map published by Ramusio and reprinted by Icaz- 

4 



50 



ARCH.-EOL OGICA L IXS TIT I 'TE. 



To the east, we must remember that the Penol was, before 
the Conquest, tar out in the waters of the lagune. The latter 
reached, even in this century, through channels and ditches, 
close to the present city, or almost to the railroad station of 
San Lazaro. This, again, taking into consideration the grad- 
ual tilling up of the whole basin during the past three hundred 
years, places the eastern limits of the former pueblo at a com- 
paratively short distance from the cathedral. 

To the north, the patch of dry land, supporting the once 
independent pueblo of Tlatilulco, was added to Tenochtitlan. 
It is known that these pueblos were artificially separated 
by a deep trench or ditch.^ This trench is still visible in 
part. 

Taking now the Cathedral as a centre, and projecting the 
points mentioned on any recent plot of the City of IMexico, 
we shall be led to infer that the former pueblo of the Indians 
occupied, at the time of the Conquest, scarcely more than one 
fourth of the area now covered by the city. 

Don Alfredo Chavero owns a very large oil painting rep- 
resenting the Indian pueblo of IMexico, and the principal 
events of its conquest. This painting is ascribed to one Juan 
Ascencion, and is said to have been executed in 1523, or two 
years after the capture of the place by Cortes. The view of 
aboriginal IMexico given by it fully confirms my suggestions 
as to the size of the settlement. 

It is well known that every vestige of aboriginal architec- 
ture has completely disappeared from the surface of the city. 
The pueblo of Tenochtitlan proper was almost completely de- 
stroyed during the obstinate resistance which its inhabitants 
opposed to the Spaniards and their Indian allies. It was re- 

balceta, accompanving E2 Conqttistadffr AnSnimo, p. 390. Cortes, Carta Scgunda, 
pp. 24, 25. Bern.il Diez, Historia VcrdaJira, cap. Ixxxviii. p. S3. 
1 Bancroft's Xath-e Races, vol. v. p. 421. 



NOTES ABOUT THE CITY OF MEXICO. 



51 



built not as an Indian town, but as a Spanish city. What 
was left of Tlatilulco has been completely changed in course 
of time through additions or repairs, so that it is impossible 
to recognize any feature antedating the Conquest. This has 
been the common fate of aboriginal structures in most of the 
larger Mexican towns. Their disappearance is due not so 
much to intentional destruction as to transformation. 

The demolition of edifices in the City of Mexico has not 
been limited to Indian buildings alone. The great documen- 
tary historian of Mexico, Don Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta, 
says : " Not only the Aztec edifices have disappeared, but also 
the earliest ones of the Spaniards. There is not a church 
which has not been rebuilt twice at least, and the same has 
occurred with the private houses. From the beginning, the 
lightness of the soil caused the heavy fabrics to sink ; and as 
the level of the soil is constantly rising, the whole city buries 
itself little by little." ^ Where such agencies, coupled with a 
slow but steady influx of foreign population and a radical 
change in habits of life, have been at work for three hundred 
and sixty years, there is little hope for the preservation of 
archaeological remains. 

Still, many very remarkable aboriginal sculptures have been 
disinterred in the city, — remarkable not only for their enor- 
mous bulk, but also for their singular workmanship and for 
the purpos'^s which they formerly served. 

These sculptures have all been found in the immediate 
vicinity of the Cathedral. This building occupies part of the 
ground on which stood the mounds of worship — teocallis, 
" houses of God " — of the pueblo. These mounds indicated 
the centre of the Indian settlement. 

Although most of these sculptures are well known, they 
have hardly received the attention they deserve. I enumerate 

^ Mexico en 1554, p, 74, note 2. 



52 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITL'TE. 

them in succession, according to the degree of prominence 
they have acquired : — 

1. The so-called " Aztec Calendar Stone," — found at a 
depth of forty-two centimetres (one foot five inches English) 
beneath the pavement in front of the present National Palace, 
south of the Cathedral, on the 17th of December. 1790.^ 

2. The statue called Tcoyaomiqui, or " goddess of death 
and war." This block was found on the 13th of August, 
1790, also to the west of the National Palace, and south of 
the Cathedral. The top of it was buried one metre and 
twelve centimetres (three feet eight inches) beneath the 
pavement ; the base, about eighty centimetres (thirtv-two 
inches) ."-^ 

3. The stone called " Sacrificial Stone." discovered north- 
west of the same locality, on the 17th of December, 1791, at 
a depth of less than fifty centimetres (or about twenty 
inches).^ 

4. The statue called " Indio Triste," found, in 1S2S, be- 
hind the National Palace, southeast of the Cathedral. The 
street where it was disinterred now bears the name, Calle del 
Indio Triste.^ 

5. An enormous head of a serpent, with mouth wide open 
and fangs protruding. This block was exhumed on the 7th and 
Sth of September. 1S81, while I was in the Citv of ^Mexico, 
and the work was performed under the direction of Seiior Gar- 
cia y Cubas. Beneath this block, one entire brick and several 
fragments of old adobe were found. The sculpture was found 

1 Antonio de Leon y Gama, Dcscripcion Historica y Cronologica de las dos 
Piedras, que ecu ocas/on del rtticz'o Emfedmdo que se esta fiyrniarido en In Plas^i 
pri net fal de Mexico, se hallaron en ella el ano de \~cp. Second edition, 1S32, bv 
Bustamante, p. 10. 

- Ibid. p. 10. 

^ Ibid. ii. p. 46. 

* Brantz-Mayer, Mexico, etc. Letter \"\-. p. SS. Compare Gama, Deseri/cion 
etc., pp. S5. S6, S7. 



NOTES ABOUT THE CTTY OF MEXICO. 53 

in the dtrio (the old cemetery) of the Cathedral, southwest, or 
rather south, of its southwest corner, and north of the Plaza. 
It was buried at the depth of not quite one metre (three feet), 
and one of the bases of the columns of the old cathedral 
rested on it. 

By reference to the location of these discoveries we may 
classify them into two groups. 

The first group comprises the sculptures found southeast 
of the Cathedral, and near the National Palace. It includes 
Nos. I, 2, and 4. We may add to them the enormous human 
head of " Serpentine," figured by Mr. Bancroft on p. 518 of the 
fourth volume of his "Native Races," and exhumed, in 1830, 
in the Calle de Santa Teresa, northeast of the Cathedral. 

The second group comprises objects found in the imme- 
diate vicinity of the Cathedral, south and southwest of it. 
Besides Nos. 3 and 5 we must add to this group three stones, 
described by Antonio de Leon y Gama as discovered in front 
of the Cathedral in the year 1792 ;^ among them the so-called 
" Gladiatorial Stone," still buried, but described and figured 
by Colonel Brantz-Mayer ; ^ and fragments of another ser- 
pent's head, similar to the one already mentioned, also ex- 
humed this year [1881] by my friend Garcia y Cubas. 

While this list does not pretend to be complete, it still 
contains enough to corroborate the statements of the older 
chronicles, to the effect that the space now occupied by the 
Cathedral and its surroundings was the central site of wor- 
ship of the Indian population previous to the Conquest ; 
but it becomes evident, from the manner in which these 
very large fragments were scattered, that the old site, en- 
closed as it was by a huge w^all, occupied much more ground 
than the present Cathedral and the Plaza combined. Fray 

^ Dcscripcion, ii. pp. 46, 47, 73, 74, 76. 

2 Mexico, etc., pp. 123, 124. Bancroft, Native Races, iv. p. 516. 



54 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

Diego Duran asserts that one of the lodges of the idols stood 
where the Episcopal Palace was in his time.^ This extends 
the space further to the east. While we are compelled to 
reduce considerably the perimeter of the original pueblo of 
Tenochtitlan, we are still further compelled to diminish its 
inhabited area, on account of the great extent occupied for 
purposes of worship. This has its bearing on the supposed 
numbers of its population. 

Referring now, in particular, to each of the sculptures enu- 
merated, I will briefly state what is positively known about 
each of them. 

The Stone of the Sun. (Plate IV.) 

The laborious investigations of Antonio de Leon y Gama 
resulted in giving to this block the erroneous name of "Aztec 
Calendar Stone/' and making of it a so-called gnomon!^ 
Yet the stone is in truth so incorrectly shaped as to render 
incredible the scientific knowledge which this author ascribes 
to its makers. The block is a very low, irregularly oblique 
cylinder, and its surface, even, is irregularly convex. The 
circles on it appear true, but this does not compensate for 
the other defects. The history of the stone and its present 
name were established successively by Seiior Chavero and 
by Dr. Valentini.^ It has in its centre the conventional 

1 Historia de las Yndias de Nuez'a-Espana, vol. ii. cap. Ixxxiii. p. 107. " Este 
templo en Mexico' estaba edificado en el mesmo lugar questa edificada la cassa 
arcobispal donde si bien ha notado el que en ellas ha entrado bera ser toda 
edificada sobre terrapleno sin tener apossentos bajos sino todo maciso el primer 
suelo." This was the mound dedicated to Tezcatlipoca. 

- Descripcion, etc, § 4 of Parte I. and Pdrrafo Qiiinto, Parte II. 

3 Alfredo Chavero, Calendario Azteca, i Nov. 1S75. "La Piedra del Sol," in 
Anales del Miiseo N'acional de Mexico, vol. i. No. 7 ; vol. ii. Nos. i, 2, 4, and still 
to be continued. Phil. J. J. Valentini, Vortrag iiber den mexicanischeti Calender- 
Stein, New York, 187S. English version thereof in Proceedings of the American 
Antiquarian Society, April 24, 1S7S ; Spanish, in Anales del Miiseo, etc., i. Nos. 
5 and 6. 




THE STONE OF THE SUN. THE SO-CALLED AZTEC CALENDAR STONE. 



NOTES ABOUT THE CITY OF MEXICO. 55 

human face, adopted by the aborigines to designate the siui. 
The date is carved qn the block, — I'^th acatl, or "cane," 
which corresponds to the year 1479 of our era. In the same 
year, according to the " Codice Aubin," the sun presented 
an unusual appearance.^ The block is described by Fray 
Diego Duran and by Fernando de Alvarado Tezozomoc.^ 
The first named writer is the only one who, so far as I know, 
gives us any clew to its use. He states that it was made for 
the purpose of sacrifice. If the prevalent conceptions of the 
three classes of sacrificial blocks used in Mexico by the Indians 
are correct, the Stone of the Sun belongs to neither of them ; 
yet we positively know but two kinds, — one from repeated 
concurrent description, the other because a specimen of it has 
been preserved.^ 

The first is called techcatl, and is described as a stone hav- 
ing the ordinary length of a man, a height of not quite one 
metre (three feet English), and sloping towards the summit 
so as to form a ridge. On this block the victim was ex- 
tended, so as to have his head inclining or dropping back- 
wards, the neck being pressed down by a heavy yoke resting 
on the throat. Not a single specimen of the techcatl is known 
to exist. 

The other is called ciLaiihxicalli, and the block referred to 
under No. 3 has been thoroughly identified as one of this sort. 
It is circular, and its distinguishing features are the cup-shaped 
concavity in the centre, and the channel which runs therefrom 
to the outer rim, 

1 Cod. Aubin, p. 72. This figure is accompanied by tlie following text in 
Nahuatl : " Nica qualloc intonatiuh mochinez que incicitlaltin y qc mic ynaxa 
Yacatzin." 

2 Histoi'ia de las Yndias, vol i. cap. xxxvi. pp. 2S0-2S6. CrSnica Mexicana, 
cap. 1. pp. 415, 416; cap. li. pp. 418-420. 

3 I refer to the excellent monograph by Manuel Orozco y Berra : " El cuauhx- 
icallide Tizoc," in Anales del Museo,vo\. i. No. i. See my essay, "The National 
Museum of Mexico, and the Sacrificial Stones," in the American Antiquarian of 
1878. 



56 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

Of the third class, the "gladiatorial stone," we know that 
it was cylindrical, and perforated in the middle. The victim 
was fastened to a rope passing through this hole, and the rope 
was long enough to allow him to move on the block. It has 
been asserted that such a stone was discovered and left buried 
near the Cathedral of Mexico, but the descriptions and pic- 
tures of it prove that it was not a sacrificial block of this kind ; 
the essential feature, the hole in the centre, is wanting. The 
name given to the gladiatorial stone was tcnialacatl. It has 
been believed that this stone was of great size and weight, 
but the difficulty of renewing" or replacing the rope every 
time it was worn out seems to me an objection to this sup- 
position. The stone lay flat, and to renew the rope would 
have necessitated lifting the enormous bulk on one side. This 
operation would have been difficult. 

There are in the National Museum at IMexico a number of 
cylinders, like mill-stones of various sizes, sculptured in low- 
relief and perforated in the middle. One of these stones has 
a thickness of thirty-five centimetres on one side, and thirty- 
three centimetres on the other (about twelve inches). They 
are far too heavy for one man to handle, but can be easily 
lifted by two. A similar block, found at Tecomavaca, in the 
State of Oaxaca, is preserved in the Instituto of Oaxaca. It 
does not essentially differ from the others. It is eight}-- four 
centimetres (two feet ten inches) in diameter, eighteen cen- 
timetres (seven inches) thick, and the hole has a diameter of 
eleven centimetres (four inches) at the surface. The perfora- 
tion is not cylindrical, but tapers from both sides towards the 
middle of the disk, and its edges are not sharp, but look as 
if smoothed by wear and friction. A block of this kind and 
size, with a rope passed through it and fastened to the ankle 
or even around the body of a man, would be of sufficient 
weight to hold him back, unless he was of gigantic strength ; 
but two men could easily lift it to fasten or replace the cord 



NOTES ABOUT THE CITY OF MEXICO. 



57 



whenever required. These stones are sometimes called teina- 
lacatl, and while they agree in general with the description 
of the gladiatorial stone, their size obviates the reasonable 
objection against its supposed great bulk.^ 

Still there is no doubt that the captive, once tied and ready 
for combat, was allowed a wider range than that which these 
small disks present. It is also certain that the ring, over 
which he might move, was the top of a huge cylindrical 
block. If we suppose the smaller stone serving as a clog, 
placed on top and in the centre of a mass like the Stone 
of the Sun, the two together would represent the needed 
combination. 

The carved surface of the Stone of the Sun rises above an 
irregularly broken rim around it. This rim is smooth on its 
surface, as if worn down in part by frequent walking upon it. 
This would have been the case had it been used for gladiato- 
rial sacrifice. 

These facts may excuse the temerity of the inference 
that the Stone of the Sun was originally placed on one of the 
artificial mounds in the centre of the Indian pueblo of Mex- 
ico, and that it served as the base of the smaller perforated 
stone to which the victim was tied, and that upon the two 
stones the gladiatorial sacrifice was performed. 

This inference is raised almost to positive certainty by doc- 
umental y evidence of great weight. Fray Diego Duran, a 
native of Mexico, who died in 1588, says, in speaking of the 
two great sacrificial blocks set up in 1479 • " He (Axayacatl) 
also busied himself with working the great and famous stone, 
highly adorned, on which were carved the figures of the 

1 These small cylinders are known also as " calendar stones." Both the Stone 
of the Sun, at Mexico, and the stone at Oaxaca, are respectively called in each 
city, la picdra del reloj. The carvings on both show a certain analogy in design, 
but the resemblance is still greater between the Oaxaca block and the Sacrificial 
Stone proper of Mexico. 



SS ARCHAEOLOGICAL LXSTITUTE. 

months and years, days and weeks, in snch a cnrious manner 
that it was worth seeing-. This stone we often saw in the great 
square, near to the Azequia, and the UUistrious and Reverend 
Lord Don Fray Alonzo de IMontular, most worthy Arehbishop 
of JNIexieo, of blessed memory, caused it to be buried for the 
great sins committed on it through kilhng." ^ 

In the second voUune of his " Historia de las Yndias de 
Nueva-Kspaha," the same author again describes the tona- 
lacatL and repeats that he and many others " saw it often in 
the great square, close to the Azequia, where dailv a market 
is held in front of the roval houses ;" and that the Archbishop 
INIontufar had it buried.- The place indicated closely agrees 
with that where the Stone of the Sun was found, as stated 
bv Leon \- Gama, "at the distance of eighty varas west of 
the same second doorway of the royal palace, and thirty- 
seven varas north of the Portal de las Flores." ^ 

\\\ regard to the carvings on the Stone of the Sun, I shall 
but sa\- that the following parts of them are ascertained be- 
yond all doubt : — 

I. The central tigure representing the sun, and perhaps the 
vear also. 

.:. The twentv tigures placed in a circle around it, repre- 
senting the twenty days of the J\k^xican month. 

3. The date. 13th acath or 1479 '^- ^-^ '^'^^'^ the head of 
the sun. on the rim or border. 

Tevond this, the signs are still subjects for interpretation. 
Interpretations have been furnished, since Leon y Gama wrote, 
by the two high authorities, to whom I have already referred, 
and I do not feel competent myself to go over the ground 
which they have so ably searched. 

1 Historia dclas Yndi<u\ vol. i. cap. .\xxv. pp. i:;::, ^73. 
■J Ibid. vol. ii. cap. Ixxxvii. pp. 149, 150, 151, 15::. 
S /),M-. ■*•/>( vV>//. eti^.. narte i. d. 10. 



s Dcscrilcicu, etc., parte i. p. ta 



PLATE V 




TEOYAOMIQUI, THE GOD OF WAR AND DEATH. 



NOTES ABOUT THE CITY OF MEXICO. 59 

The Statue called the " Goddess Teoyaomiqui." 
(Plate V.) 

It is to Antonio de Leon y Gama that tliis great monolith 
also owes its name. The block, which is two metres and sixty- 
centimetres (eight and one half feet) high, one metre and sev- 
enty centimetres (five and one half feet) wide, and one metre 
and fifty-five centimetres (five feet) thick,i is made of porphy- 
ritic basalt (according to Humboldt).^ It is covered with 
carvings almost to overloading. However well executed some 
of them are when taken singly, their combination on the block 
is devoid of symmetry, and indicates almost as primitive a 
mode of sculpture as that shown in two rudely blocked out 
heads in the public library of Vera Cruz. The general effect, 
however, is appalling, and the stone presents a most hideous 
agglomeration of repulsive forms. 

The two faces of this sculpture are not alike. Gama adopts 
the view that one represents a male, the other a female, fig- 
ure, and calls the rear figure Huitsilopochtli, and the front, 
Teoyaomiqui, stating that the latter was the former's com- 
panion.^ It is a little singular that not one of the older 
authors on Mexico mentions an idol or deity called Teo- 
yaomiqui, 

In studying the descriptions of Mexican idols handed down 
to us from the sixteenth century, we should never fail to dis- 
criminate between the actual carved bulk, sometimes of stone, 
sometimes of wood, and the adornments, hangings, or trap- 
pings placed on and about it. The former only was perma- 
nent (provided the statue was not destroyed) ; the other was 
liable to change according to necessity, and certainly liable to 
disappear, either by removal or decay. The present condi- 

1 Dcscripcion, etc, i. p. 10. 

- Or "porphyre basaltique," Vues des Cordilleres et Monuments des Peiiples In- 
digenes de P Anicriqiie, 1816. Vol. ii. p. 14S. 
3 Deso'ipeion, etc., i. pp. 35-44. 



6o ARCHyEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

tion of these sculptures at Mexico is not, tlierefore, their 
original state. They lack the bright shining stones (of more 
briUiancy than value) set in their eyes or hung around their 
wrists and waists, the gaudy cloth with which they were 
decked, and the feathers forming tall crests on their heads. 
What now remains of such idols is but the skeleton of their 
former appearance. 

The descriptions left us by eye-witnesses of the Conquest, 
and by the early missionaries, include three classes of facts : 

1. The materials of which the figure and the ornaments 
were made. 

2. The salient features of what I have termed the skeleton 
of the idol. 

3. The loose or temporary appendages or ornaments. 

Of these only the first two come into consideration here, 
the third class having entirely disappeared. 

Assuming now that the statue in question had been but 
recently discovered, and no theory had yet been advanced as 
to its probable purpose and dedication, — thus putting out of 
view for a time the explanations of Gama, — our first step 
should be to compare it with whatever descriptions are left 
of ancient Mexican idols, particularly by such writers as saw 
them in actual use. 

There can hardly be any doubt as to the fact that our block 
once pertained to the central cluster of mounds of worship in 
aboriginal Mexico. It is not to be supposed that it was 
dragged from any other place to the main square for the pur- 
pose of burying it there. We are therefore justified in look- 
ing among the statues of that celebrated cluster for one which 
might agree with our monolith. 

Turning first to the eye-witnesses and participants of the 
Conquest we find that Cortes himself speaks of the idols of 
Mexico only in general terms. ^ 

1 Carta Scgimda, p. 'iiZ- 



NOTES ABOUT THE CITY OF MEXICO. 6 1 

Andres de Tapia, one of the leading coiiguistadores, speak- 
ing of the chief mounds of Tenochtitlan, mentions two idols 
placed on large stones in front of the principal towers. Each 
one was about three varas (two metres and fifty-three centi- 
metres, or eight and one-half feet English) high, of the 
bulk of an ox, and made of polished stone. The stone was 
covered with mother-of-pearl, with many bright stones pasted 
on it. The idols were girt with big snakes of gold ; each 
had a collar of ten or twelve golden human hearts, a golden 
mask for the face, eyes of " mirror," and on the back of 
the head there was another face, "like the head of a man 
without flesh " (a skull). i Bernal Diez de Castillo, another 
conqiiistador, particularly mentions three statues, one of which 
he calls Huichilobos, describing it as follows: "Its face was 
very broad, its eyes were distorted and frightful, and its 
whole body covered with gold, pearls, and pearl- drops, — all 
fastened on with glue {engnidd), which in this country is 
made from a certain root. The body was girt with large 
snakes covered with gold and jewels. In one hand it held 
a bow, and in the other some arrows. ... On the neck 
the Huichilobos had faces of Indians, and other things like 
hearts of Indians. . . ." Another statue he calls Tezcat- 
lipuca, and says of it : "... It had a visage like that of a 
bear, and shining eyes made of mirrors called tescat, and 
the body was covered with rich stones stuck over it after the 
same manner as the other ; ... and around the body were 
strung figures like little devils, with tails like lizards. . . ." 
Finally he mentions a third idol, placed apart from the others, 
" half man and half lizard {lagarto, properly alligator), all cov- 
ered with rich stones, and half of it draped. Of this one they 
said that the half of it was filled with all the seeds of the land, 
for he was the god of the crops and fruits. . . ." =^ 

1 Relacion de la Cojiquista de Mexico, pp. 582, 583. 

2 Historia Verdadera de la Conqiiista de Niieva-Espana, cap. xcii. p. 90. 



62 ARCHJEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

The "Anonymous Conqueror," like Cortes, speaks of the 
IMexican idols onlv in g-eneral terms. ^ 

Amonc the earh' missionaries, neither I-^mn' Pedro de Gante 
nor h^av Toribio de Taredos (ealled INIotolinia) gives anv 
speeitic description that would apply to our subject. The 
sanic is to be said of Fray Bernardino Ribeira, surnamed 
Sahagnn. who has given us a number of details about sun- 
dr\- idols, none of which, however, agree in the least with our 
statue. It is true that he fails to describe the principal male 
idols, Ouetzalcohuatl excepted. 

Of the three contemporaries of the Conquest, who wrote 
on the subject without having visited IMexico themselves, 
Peter Martvr. of Anghiera. is very laconic. He only says: 
*' It is a fearcfnll thing to be spoken, what the}- declare and 
report concerning tb.eir i^lols. I omit, theretore, to speake 
of their greatest marble idol, Wichilabuchichi. of the height 
of three men, not inferior to that huge statue of Rhodes." ^ 
The *' three varas " of the eye-witnesses had alread\- grown 
considerably. 

Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes follows Cortes in 
one part of his statements, and in other portions is very 
brief and general.^ Francisco Lopez de Gomara and Bernal 
Diez closelv agree in their description of the idols of ]\Iex- 
ico. The former reports that the gods of jMexico were two 
thousand in number. The principal ones were called Vitcilo- 
puchtli and Tezcatlipuca. whose idols stood on the height 
of the temple, over the two altars. They were of stone, and 
of the form, height, and size of a giant. They were cov- 
ered with mother-of-pearl ; and on it were pasted, with glue of 

^ El Conqitistador AnSntmo. p. 3S4. 

2 De A^i>ufl f)/Ar, or 7%«r J/ish>rtV 0/ thf West Ift.:!:s. .:•■::.: vrting the A<tes and 
Adueniitres of fAe S/anj'ttrdejf, Translation of the eight Decades, by Richard 
Eden and ^^^. Lok. London, 1612. Dec, v. cap. iv. p. 197. 

s ffssh>r!\3 Geiieriil r Xiitttral de iaslMdias, vol. iii. lib. xxxiii. cap. xi. pp. 304, 
305 ; cap. xlvi, pp. 503, 504. 



NOTES ABOUT THE CITY OF MEXICO. 63 

zacotl, many pearls, stones, and pieces of gold, — and birds, liz- 
ards, animals, fish, and flowers, made of mosaic of turquoises, 
emeralds, chalcedonies, amethysts, and other fine stones, 
which made pretty ornaments upon the mother-of-pearl. 
As a girdle each had thick snakes of gold ; and as a neck- 
lace, ten human hearts of gold ; and each had a golden mask 
with eyes of mirror, and on the back of the head the face of a 
skull, — all of which had its import and meaning.^ 

Gomara's book was first published in 1552 ; it is not likely, 
therefore, that he consulted Bernal Diez who wrote twenty 
years later ; and the agreement between the two is indeed 
striking, and gives great weight to the statements of both, as 
well as to that of Andres de Tapia. 

Towards the close of the seventh decade of the sixteenth 
century, a very strong effort was made, by order of the Vice- 
roy Don Martin Enriquez, to collect and preserve the an- 
tiquities of Mexico. The immediate result was that two 
ecclesiastics of different orders, both native Mexicans and re- 
lated to each other, framed two independent works on the his- 
tory and the former creed and customs of the natives. These 
works are based upon a careful and critical study, for the 
time, of what was then left (about fifty years after the Con- 
quest) of the antiquities of Indian Mexico. Part of the knowl- 
edge possessed by the authors had been gained from actual 
remains, a much larger part from paintings, customs, tradi- 
tions, and songs, and part from their own experience. These 
authors were the Jesuit Father Juan de Tobar and the Do- 
minican Fray Diego Duran.^ 

1 Cronica General de las Indias, Seg^ Parte, p. 350. 

- Through the discovery in 1S79 of a correspondence between the Jesuit 
fathers Tobar and Acosta, at the Lenox Library in New York, — of which I 
gave an account to the New York Historical Society at their meeting of 
Nov. 4, 1S79, and afterwards in the N'ation, — I established the fact that the so- 
called Cddice Ramirez was a work of the former writer, and that he and his rela- 



64 AKCn.-EO LOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

Both of them have preserved descriptions of the main idols 
of the pueblo of Mexico, and it is interesting to compare them 
with those of the eye-witnesses already quoted. They speak 
of four principal deities and statues, thus corroborating Fray 
Francisco of Bologna, who says : " They worshipped a great 
number of idols, among which there were four principal 
ones." ^ From the manner in which those who saw the idols 
in situ speak of them, we must conclude that they were par- 
ticularly distinguished by their enormous size. This is given 
by Andres de Tapia at three varas, and it is noticeable how 
closely this agrees with the height of our statue. It is there- 
fore not unreasonable to suppose that the latter was one of 
the four chief idols of Mexico. The names of the four great 
deities mentioned by Tobar and Duran are Huitzilopochtli, 
Tezcatlipoca, Ouetzalcohuatl, and Tlaloc, — the first two being 
the same as those given by earlier writers. 

In regard to the first, both Tobar and Duran state that his 
statue was of zvood. The conquerors, and those who wrote 
from their reports, are equally positive in asserting that it 
was made of stone. The picture given by the later authors 
presents the aspect of the idol when fully dressed, the tem- 
porary ornaments claiming chief attention. I translate from 
Tobar : " The figure of this great idol, Huitzilopochtli, was 
a statue of wood, carved in the likeness of a man, seated on a 

tive, Frav Diego Duran, miglit be considered as the founders of an independent 
" school " of authors on Ancient Mexico. I communicated my discovery at once 
to Senor D. Joaquin Garcia-Icazbalceta, of the City of Mexico, and in the 
Appendix to liis latest work, Do)i Fray Ztimdrraga, primer Obispo y Arzohispo 
de Mexico, Me.xico, iSSi, the celebrated historian has published the full text 
of the correspondence between Tobar and Acosta. The material from which 
Tobar and Duran gleaned is not yet thoroughly established ; we are not yet pos- 
itive which Indian paintings, for instance, they consulted ; but enough is known 
to give great value to their writings. 

^ Lettre dit Rh'erend Pcre Francisco de Bolop-ie, in Ternaux-Compans, Re- 
aidl de pikes relatives d, la Conqxiite du Mexique, 1S3S, p. 212. The letter bears 
no date. 



NOTES ABOUT THE CITY OF MEXICO. 65 

blue bench placed on a frame, and from each corner there pro- 
jected a beam, terminating in the head of a lizard. The bench 
was blue, by which they denoted that he was sitting in the 
skies. The forehead of the idol was blue, and over the nose 
there ran a blue band from ear to ear. On his head he had a 
rich crest of peacock's feathers, and a bird's beak of polished 
o-old ; the feathers were green, very numerous and handsome. 
He was draped in a green robe, and over it there hung from 
the neck an apron {ddantai) of rich green feathers, garnished 
with gold, wdiich, as he was seated on the bench, covered 
him down to the feet. In the left hand he held a shield 
with five pineapples made of white feathers set crosswise ; 
around the shield hung yellow plumage like a fringe, and over 
them a flag of gold ; and in place of the handle there projected 
four darts. ... In the right hand this idol held a staff shaped 
like a snake, all blue and wavy. He wore a fan-like scarf 
{bandcrilld), that terminated on the shoulder, of polished 
gold ; on his wrists were golden bands, and on his feet blue 
sandals." ^ 

It is evident from this description that it mainly applies 
to drapery and ornamental appendages, — all of a perishable 
nature, which neither Tobar nor Duran could have seen. 
Nothing is said of the body of the idol, itself, but that it was 
of wood. The conquerors saw it and probably handled it ; 
the others did not, but obtained their information at second 
hand. I therefore give preference to the assertions of the 
former. 

The same remarks apply to the description of the statue of 
Tezcatlipoca. The only allusion to its real body by Tobar, 
or Duran, is that it was made of black shining stone.^ 

^ Codice Ramirez, Tratado 2°, cap. i. pp. 93, 94. 

2 Id. Tratado 2°, cap. ii. p. 104. Historia de las Yndias, etc., vol. ii. cap. 
Ixxxii. p. 9S. 

S 



66 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

The remainder of their long accounts relates exclusivelv to 
ornaments. 

Of Ouetzalcohuatl a better description is given, but it is 
not quite clear whether the description relates to an idol of 
^Mexico or to one at Cholula. Tobar asserts that it was of 
wood, " in the shape of a man, but the face was that of a bird 
with comb and wattles {crcsta y verrugas), with a row of teeth 
in the protruding tongue. . . ." ^ The rest again relates to 
perishable appendages. It fairly agrees, on the whole, with 
the statements of Sahagun.- 

Duran alone has given us a description of Tlaloc as he 
was represented at aboriginal ^Mexico. " The statue of it," he 
says, " was of stone carved as the etiigy of a frightful monster, 
the face very ugly, like that of a lizard with very large fangs ; 
. . ." and he goes on to describe the adornments and trap- 
pings of the tigure. ^ 

If now, on the supposition that the statue called that of 
the goddess Teovaomiqui was one of the four main idols of 
IMexico. we compare it with the statements herein collected, 
it must strike us that neither Ouetzalcohuatl nor Tezcatli- 
poca properly corresponds to it. The choice is left between 
Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc ; and if we recall the principal 
features of the statue of Huitzilopochtli as described, they 
are found represented on the sculpture before us : — 

1. The general hideousness of its appearance. 

2. Its height and bulk. 

3. The girdle or belt of snakes around the body. 

4. The skull or skulls. 

In place, therefore, of christening the monolith after an 

^ Codice Ramirez Tratado 2°, cap. iv. p. 117, agrees literally with Durdn. 
- Hisforia Gtncral dd las Cosas de Xtuza-Es^paTtJ, vol. i. lib. i. cap. v. p. 4. 
He makes no mention of the head. 

® Historia, etc., vol. ii. cap. Ixxxvi. p. 135, 



NOTES ABOUT THE CITY OF MEXICO. 6^ 

imaginary composite deity of whose existence the oldest au- 
thorities make no mention, it strikes me as much more nat- 
ural to believe that it represents the well-known war god of 
the Mexican tribe, Huitzilopochtli ; and that consequently it 
was indeed the famous principal idol of aboriginal Mexico, or 
Tenochtitlan.i 

The Sacrificial Stone. (Plate VI.) 
The late archaeologist and historian, Manuel Orozco y Berra, 
has satisfactorily proved the character of this relic. I refer to 
his valuable monograph on that subject.^ But while grate- 
fully accepting his conclusions in regard to the character of 
the sculpture and its original purpose, I still remain at vari- 
ance with his deductions in regard to its date and the signifi- 
cation of its bas-reliefs. His courteous, pleasant, and thorough 
rejoinder^ to my observations was, unhappily, one of the later 
incidents of his life, and I was myself precluded from inves- 
tigating the questions involved any further. When I reached 
the City of Mexico, the first news I received was that Manuel 
Orozco y Berra had recently died. It was a shock to me, for 
I had hoped to make the personal acquaintance of the aged 
scholar. It also effectually " closes the discussion," so far 
as I am concerned. 

The Sacrificial Stone appears to be a regular cylinder. 
Still, such is not the case. If the square is applied to it, its 
sides are not vertical, even allowing for inevitable wear and 

1 In addition to the evidences given, I must allude here to the following 
statement by Tezozomoc, Crotiica, etc., cap. 1. pp. 415, 416 (speaking of the cap- 
tives), "subieronlos en lo alto de el Huitzilopochtli adonde estaba su estatua 
frontero la gran piedra Temalacatl." It is noticeable that the Stone of the 
Sun and the statue just discussed were found close together. Gama, Descripcion, 
etc., i. p. 10. 

2 " El Cuauhxicalli de Tizoc" in Anales, etc., vol. i. No. i. 

3 See p. 55, note 3. Senor Orozco's reply is in Ajtales del Museo Nacional, 
vol. ii. No. I, pp. 77, 78, note 2. 



68 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

tear. This shows it to have been worked out b}^ mere rule 
of thumb, and without the^aid of instruments. This is further 
illustrated by another circumstance. There is, at the base, a 
concavity, apparently an original defect of the block. One of 
the figures in the series around the outer rim of the stone is 
partly carved within this depression. This would seem to 
indicate that the workmen did not have the means to correct 
the defect, but made the best they could of the stone without 
attempting to shape it nicely. 

The Indio Triste. (Plate VIT.) 
I have already stated that this block, which is about one 
metre (forty inches) high, and sixty-one centimetres (twenty- 
four inches) wide, was disinterred about 1S28. Still, there is 
an earlier mention of a similar statue, by Leon y Gama.' The 
Indio Triste has not, as yet, attracted the attention which it 
really deserves. Being simply the figure of a squatting In- 
dian, fairly executed, but without any striking s}-mbolical 
ornaments, it has escaped the notice of interpreters. Gama 
has suggested an explanation of the statue which he describes, 
and by supposing that the empty. space between its fingers 
was originally occupied by a drinking-cup, he interprets it as 
probably the statue of a god of wine. 

Following the method pursued in regard to the Stone of 
the Sun and the idol of Huitzilopochtli, I have examined the 
older authors for any notice which might correspond to the 
Indio Triste. 

Two years ago I met with the following statement by Fray 
Juan de Tobar,^ speaking of the place of worship of Huitzilo- 
pochtli : " It had on the tops of the chambers and rooms 
where the idols were a handsome balcony (or balustrade) made 

1 Descripcion, etc , parte ii. p. 86, § 155. 

2 Codice Ramirez, Tratado ii. cap. i. p. 95. 



PLATE VII 



-j5S**^(t>*T'"iS^;^^1M5'y=^*v > 




THE INDIO TRISTE. 



NOTES ABOUT THE CITY OF MEXICO. 69 

of many small stones as black as jet, set with much regularity, 
so as to form a field checkered black and white, which was 
very conspicuous from below ; over this balcony (or balustrade, 
pretil) there rose turret-like battlements, and on the top of 
the pillars were two Indians of stone, seated, with candle- 
sticks in their hands. . . ." This statement is corroborated 
by Duran.^ 

The figure of the Indio Triste exactly fits the above descrip- 
tion. The hands join as if he was holding something in 
front of himself, and the size of the opening thus left is just 
fitted for a good-sized torch. Brantz-Mayer has remarked 
in regard to it : " This figure was probably set on the wall or 
at the portal of some edifice, and in his hand was erected a 
banner or insignia of command." ^ Had this accurate and 
trustworthy writer had access to the sources to which we 
now can refer, he might have enjoyed the pleasure of see- 
ing his suggestion confirmed, with a slight amendment, by 
highly respectable early authority ; but neither Duran nor 
Tobar were known or accessible when Colonel Mayer wrote 
his valuable book on Mexico. 

I have unhesitatingly accepted the Indio Triste as a torch- 
bearer of stone, — consequently as a mere ornament, without 
any direct relations to worship whatever. 

The Colossal Head of a Snake. 

It was impossible for me to take measurements or make a 
sketch of this carving. The block represents the head of a 
snake, with feather ornaments on the back. The mouth is 
open, and enormous fangs protrude from it. This stone was 
found beneath the base of one of the columns of the old 

1 Hist, de las Yndias, etc., vol. ii. cap. Ixxx. p. S3. 

2 Mexico as it Was and as it Is, p. 88. 



70 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITtrTE, 

cathedral, which was ra.:cJ at the close ot the sixteemh cen- 
tury to make room for the present editice. It appears that 
the column rested on the sculpture, — had been built on it. 
SeAor Garcia ^■ Cubas, who conducts the explorations, informed 
me that he had discovered the fragments of another similar 
serpent's head. It is not impossible that they might be the 
broken pieces of a block, forming " the face and head of a 
serpent," which was disinterred on the iSth of June, 179:;, on 
the south front of the Cathedral, and afterwards disappeared 
again. Leon v (.uima gives the size of that stone as follows : 
length, one metre and lifty-eight centimetres (sixty-two inch- 
es) ; width acmss the fangs {colmillos), one metre and twen- 
tv-seven centimetres (fifty inches) ; ^ heights, respectively, one 
nunc and thirteen centimetres, and eighty-five centimetres 
(forty-four and thirty-four inches). These dimensions, so far 
as I could judge, nearly agree with those of the head recently 
exhumed. Gama states that the lower jaw was not attached 
to his specimen, whei'eas the one lately found is complete. 

Gama supposes that the lower jaw w^s never connected 
with the upper part of the head, but lay on the ground below 
it. the two forming a doorway like the open jaws of a monster. 
Such a doorwav existed in Old Mexico ; Bernal Diez saw and 
described it.'^ The suggestion, however ingenious it looks, 
becomes unnecessary in presence of the simple fact that the 
wall, surrounding the cluster of mounds of worship of the old 
pueblo, w.\s composed of a series (like a procession) of snakes' 
heads, all of colossal size, with mouths wide open and fangs 
exposed.^ The annexed cut (Fig. 2> is a fac-simile of Dunui's 

1 /VjfirrS^***, etc.. n. pp. 74. 75, § 145. 

'^ Ifistt-TM rv/iAhw-n). cap. xcu. p. 91. 

* t\\iur RyimirfHy Ti-at. ii. cap. i. pp. 94, 05 : " Tenia e*te templo una ccrca 
mnv grande. que (ormaba dentro de si un muy hermoso patio ; toda ella era lab- 
rada de piedx'a* grander, a manera vie cnlebras asidas \as xwas de las otras; 
UamAl-iase esta cerca Cv^huatemntli. que quiere decir cerca de Culebras." Dunin, 
ffisAvi^h «tc,» vol. ii. cap. Kxx. p. S v 



NOTES ABOUT THE CITY OF MEXICO. 



71 



picture of the Co/mat epantli, or "snake-wall." We also know- 
that the large heads of that enclosure were used when the 
first cathedral was built, to support the columns or pilasters 
of that church. 1 In such a position, serving as basis for 
a column, Garcia y Cubas found the Serpent's Head last 




Figure 2. 

September; and there is consequently but one impression 
among scientific men in Mexico, — which impression I fully 
share, — that it was one of the pieces capping the outside 
enclosure of the worship-mounds of aboriginal Mexico, a 
true and well preserved fragment of the Cohuatepantli ; and 
as the one described by Gama so closely agrees with that 
found by Garcia y Cubas, it is but reasonable to suppose that 
both belonged to the same construction. 

The discovery of Garcia is also instructive and important in 

1 Duian, Historia, etc., vol. ii. cap. Ixxx. p. S3 : " . . . las quales piedras el 
que las quixiere ber baya a la yglesia mayor de Mexico y alii las bera servir de 
pedestales y asientos de los pilares della." 



72 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 



respect to the material of the great wall mentioned. He in- 
formed me that beneath the block he had found adobe bricks, 
one entire, and fragments of several others. We thus learn 
that the stone blocks representing snake-heads rested on a 
wall of adobe. This throws a singular light on the architec- 
ture of aboriginal Mexico. A similar mode of construction is 
met with in other parts of the Republic, as I shall hereafter 
show when treating of Mitla. 

This discussion of the most important Indian statues found 
in the City of Mexico very naturally leads to the National 
Museum where, with the exception of the Stone of the Sun, 
they are all preserved. If the Stone of the Sun itself has 
not yet been transferred to the same place, it is only be- 
cause the hall for its reception is not yet ready. A great 
many valuable objects of stone are still kept temporarily in 
the charming interior court of the Museum, but it will not be 
long before they are housed and cared for in the way they 
deserve. The most valuable and costly part of the collection 
is already placed and exhibited in the upper rooms, open at 
stated intervals to the public. Professor Gumesindo Men- 
doza, director, or curator, of the Museo Nacional de Mexico, 
has had a herculean task before him. His duty it was, above 
all, to save, and then to place what he was able to save before 
the public in such a manner as to induce that public to save 
more. It cannot be denied that he has successfully performed 
his task, particularly in archaeology. The Museum presents 
a lucid array of almost everything which aboriginal art has 
produced in Mexico. The house-life of the Indians before 
the Conquest, their articles of dress, their mechanical and 
agricultural tools, are sparingly represented, owing to want 
of space. Senor Mendoza is constantly collecting, and since 
the Mexican nation has wisely decided (though not for the 



NOTES ABOUT THE CITY OF MEXICO. >i -^ 

interest of foreign archaeologists) tliat Mexican antiquities 
are to be preserved at home, his material rapidly accumulates. 
The "Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico" will eventually 
become a descriptive and critical catalogue, beautifully illus- 
trated, of the institution. 

The inner court of the building, now the temporary abode 
of the largest statues, contains among them also the great 
reclining figure, made of a light-colored limestone, exhumed 
at Chichen-Itza, in Yucatan, by Dr, Augustus LePlongeon 
and Mrs. LePlongeon, and christened Chac-Mool, by its dis- 
coverers. Opposite to it has been placed another and almost 
identical sculpture, but of black volcanic rock, and found, as 
reported, in the State of Tlaxcala. It appears also that a 
third one is still preserved in the garden of a house of Seflor 
Barron at Tacubaya.^ Finally, while exploring the western 
slopes of the extinct volcano Yztac-cihuatl, I heard, at the 
pueblo of San Andres Calpan, of a large sculpture in posses- 
sion of an Indian called Pedro Garcia. Upon visitino- him 
I was surprised to see a torso, fairly executed, made out of 
the dark volcanic rock so common about the volcanoes, and 
called by the Indians tetzontli. It was very nearly life-size, 
and held over the navel, with both hands, a round disk with 
narrow rim, exactly in the same manner as the Chac-Mool and 
the statue £rom Tlaxcala. The similarity was striking, but 
as the head and lower limbs were both gone, I could not speak 
of absolute identity. This block was found by a young In- 
dian in a field on the eastern edge of the Malpais, or great 
flow of lava encircling the volcano of Popocatepetl, between 
the pueblos of San Buenaventura Nealtica and San Baltasar, 
on the road to the City of Athxco, consequently in the State 
of Puebla. I endeavored, on the 19th of May, 1881, to pur- 

1 Jesus Sanchez, "Estudio acerca de la estatua llamada Chac-Mool 6 rey 
tigre," in Anales del Museo, vol. i. No. 6, pp. 274, 276. 



74 ARCHAEOLOGICAL JXSTITC'TE. 

chase the statue for the State ^Nruseum of Puebla. but failed, 
o\Ying to the mistrust and unreliability so common amoui;- the 
Indians of that region. 

The Chac-Mool has excited not only deserved attention, but 
also very bitter controversies about its purposes and real ob- 
ject. The question turns on the point whether it was an idol 
or not. Its discoverers consider it to have been a personal 
monument, a sepulchral statue. I have not the slightest desire 
to enter into the controversy myself, and would oulv observe 
here that it has not yet been determined what the distinguish- 
ing features of an idol are in the aboriginal statuary of INIex- 
ico. There are indications to the effect that statuary made 
for purposes of worship was always composite ; that is, the 
central form or figure was so surrounded by forms denoting- 
attributes, as to give that confused, almost nondescript ap- 
pearance of which the great idol of Huitzilopochtli is typi- 
cal. Should such be the case, then the Chac-Mool was no idol. 
The point concerns not this statue alone, but all simple 
(not composite) human or animal forms of aboriginal Mexican 
art. As bearing upon the question I may refer to the exist- 
ence, close to the City of Mexico, of a sepulchral monument of 
undoubted Indian origin, antedating the Conquest, and repre- 
senting the life-size figure of the man whose memory it was 
intended to preserve. This is the bas-relief on Jthe eastern 
base of the hill of Chapultepec, the effigy of Water-rat. or Otter 
{AJ(uitsotl), one of the later head war-chiefs of the ^lexican 
tribe. 

The hill of Chapultepec is one of those isolated rocks which 
protrude here and there above the swampy soil of the valley. 
It was formerly surrounded by a marsh, and was thus an 
excellent place for refuge and defence.^ The Mexican tribe 

1 I found, on the southeastern slope of the denuded hill, beneath the palace, 
fragments of old pottery and many obsidian chips, specimens of which are now 
at the Peabody Museum in Cambridge. 



NOTES ABOUT THE CITY OF MEXICO. 75 

availed themselves of it for a time, previous to their flight into 
the middle of the lagune. 

The hill has an excellent fresh-water spring, and swamp 
cypresses grow along its base, forming a grove around the 
otherwise rather denuded eminence. Chapultepec, ovv'ing to 
its fresh-water supply, was a point coveted by the various 
tribes settled in its vicinity. When the Mexicans, sallying 
from the partly artificial island which they occupied in the 
lagune, overpowered the Tecpanecos on the mainland, they 
immediately seized Chapultepec, and constructed a dike from 
it to their pueblo, along which they conducted the water 
of its spring in large troughs. But the hill was never used 
as an Indian residence, still less as a "summer resort" for 
the chiefs, or a " royal villa," as has been imagined.^ It 
was used to some extent as a burial-place, and a few of 
the leading chieftains of Mexico had their effigies carved in 
specially fitted nooks and recesses.^ At the close of the 
last century two of these effigies were still in existence ; "^ 
but when 1 inquired about them at the City of Mexico I was 
assured that they had completely disappeared. Nevertheless 
I found, on March 6, 1881, what clearly appears to be the 
remainder of the effigy of Ahuitzotl, the last Montezuma's 
predecessor in the office of chief commander of the Nahuatl 
Confederacy. It was carved in half-relief, and was originally 
a full-length figure of a man, life-size, stretched out on a ledge 

1 As a salient and striking object, and on account of the fresh-water springs, 
Chapultepec was worshipped ; but I find no trace among older authors of any 
settlement there, still less of a summer palace, at the time of the Conquest. 

- 'I'obar, edifice liamirez, makes no mention of such a custom, I)ut Duran 
[Ilisioria, etc., vol. i. cap. xxxi. pp. 249-252; cap. xxxviii. p. 302; cap. 1. p. 403) 
and Tezozomoc {Crdnica, tic, cap. xl. pp. 368, 369; cap. liv. p. 430, etc.) are 
both very positive and detailed. The former even gives a picture of one of the 
statues; Tratado i, lam. 9. 

^ Gama, Dcscripcion, etc., ii. pp. 80, Sr. The late Senor Don Jose Fernando 
Ramirez is the only writer who asserts that there were still remains at his time. 
This he states in note I on p. 251 of vol. i. ; Duran, Ilisioria, etc. 



76 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

of natural rock sloping; at an inclination of nearly fift}'-tive 
degrees. Only the lower limbs are preserved. The top and 
the whole body have evidently been blown off ; nothing re- 
mains of them but three fragments. The feet also are muti- 
lated ; they appear to have stood on an imperfectly carved 
moulding. lUit the principal features of the monument are 
the figure of 2d acatl, or " cane " (still visible to the right of 
what was once the head), and beneath it the picture of a water- 
rat. Both are sufficiently distinct. The former is a date, and 
corresponds to 1507 of our era ; the latter is a !ia))ic, and reads 
" Ahuitzotl " in the native INIexican language. There can be 
no doubt as to the identity of the latter, and consequently no 
doubt that the monument really is that of the chief thus called; 
but the date is rather puzzling. If it signifies the vear of Ahuit- 
zotl's death, then it is at variance with all the other chronolo- 
gies of the Mexican tribe. It is true that these chronologies 
vary greatly among themselves, although the majority place the 
death of Ahuitzotl in 15O-. or the }ear \otJi tocJttli, or "rabbit."^ 
Either, therefore, the date refers to the year when the sculp- 
ture was executed, or the chronologies are in error as to the 
vear of the death of the chief. The rock is, however, so much 
nuuilated and worn that one or more of the numeral points 
may be obliterated completely."-^ This possibility (and a num- 

^ Compare (in the same volume of the BibUotcca Mcxicatta as the works of 
Tobar and Tezozomoc) the '• Ojeada sobre la Cronologia IMexicana," by the late 
Orozco V Berra. It \Yill give the reader a very good idea of the difficulties which 
any one has to encounter in an attempt to trace a chronology of events in abo- 
riginal Mexico, even within one hundred years previous to the Conquest. There 
is but a single point which may be deemed sure, the year of Cortes' arrival, 1519, 
which coincides with the native yearly sign, \st acatl, or " ist cane." From this 
we mav, with some degree of security, reckon back. But in regard to the death of 
Ahuitzotl, there are not less than seven different years; namely, 1494, 1501, 1502, 
1503, 1504, 1505, and 1516. If the sculpture at Chapultepec refers to the event, 
we have an eighth one. 1 507. 

'•^ Don Jose F. Ramirez mentions but one dot to the sign of acatl. If I have 
been deceived in my observation, and there is but one dot, then the date would 
correspond either to 1467 or to 1519. 



Nor/'is Aiu)iJi' -nn: en v oi-- micxico. 



n 



1k;i" of ollicr.s) miisl. he Irikcn iiilo considcral ion rind carefully 
wci;^lu(l ere vvc {^rasp at a conclusion, never forgetting that 
the acLc:i)lc(l chronology of ancient Mexico rests on a very 
slender hasis, and Ihat even the undoiihledly In(han pictures 
or scniplnrcs are fai" from heing as reliahle guides as is com- 
monly su[)posccl. 

The (|iies!ions raised ahoiit Ihe object and purjjose of the 
Chac-Mool also apply lo flu: large head of Seipenline at 
the; Nalional Museum, which Mr. Iiancroft has figured on 
p. 5i,S of vol. iv. of the " Native Races." It is ninety-one 
cenlimeli-es (lliirty-si.x inches) high, and seventy-three centi- 
metres (Iwenly-uine inches) wide. Mr. l^ancroft justly re- 
marks ahoul it: "'Ihe hollom being covered with scul[)ture, 
it sec'ins that the monument is com[)lete in its present 
state." This is not the oidy instance of single carved heads 
without- bo(hes al (ached lo them, which has come under my 
notice. In the distrii-t of ('holula, on the hacienda de San 
Benito, and about the pueblo of Calpan, I saw and obtained 
a number of heads, — mostly about life-size, found by the 
side of skeletons, — and always without any trace of a body 
oi" limbs. This may indicate a custom of burning the effigy 
of the deceascMl along with the corpse, — somewhat analo- 
gous to the practice; of the ancient Mexicans, of burning a 
wooden edigy in place of the corpse of a warrior whose body 
had i-emained in possession of the enemy. Such heads have 
been, hir the most part, regarded as idols, but it is worth 
while to consider whether they may not sim[)ly be funeral 
portraits. 

I ha\'e already alluded to the imperfections of aboriginal art 
in Mexico. While many of the faces and heads are well done, 
particularly those of clay, this excellence very rarely, if ever, 
extends to the other jxirts of the body. On the contrary, 
there is always a certain disprofiortion and consec|uent lack 



78 ARCHAEOLOGICAL LNSTITUTE. 

of harmony. The Chac-Mool, which (excepting, perhaps, the 
Indio-Triste) is the best of all, still shows strange defects in 
the proportions of its lower limbs. The same is true in regard 
to the figures of animals. Quadrupeds are mostly rude in 
shape ; still I have seen more than one head of a tiger which 
is fairly executed. Birds are always monsters, the workmen 
being unable to overcome the difficulty of rendering the plu- 
mage ; but all simple forms, like snakes, turtles, frogs, and 
reptiles generally, seem to be well imitated. Thus the head, 
coils, and rattles of the rattlesnake are excellent. Fishes are 
poorly represented ; and plants, which rarely occur except as 
leaves and single flowers, are mostly of stiff conventional types. 
The art of sculpture in aboriginal Mexico, while considerably 
above that of the Northern VillageTndians, is still not superior 
to the remarkable carvings on ivory and wood of the tribes of 
the Northwest Coast, and often bears a marked resemblance 
to them. 

Omitting, for the present, all reference to pottery, flint, 
obsidian, metallic implements and ornaments, tissues, and In- 
dian paintings, all of which are represented in the National 
Museum and in private collections at the city of Mexico, I 
turn now to the main part of my work while on Mexican ter- 
ritory. After spending the 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th of March, 
1 88 1, at the city, and partly in company with M. Desire 
Charnay, I concluded, upon his advice, to select the site of 
the former pueblo of Cholula, in the State of Puebla, as my 
field for investigation. I left Mexico on the night of the 6th, 
by rail ; and after enjoying, while swiftly traversing the val- 
ley, the sight of the great volcanoes by moonlight, I spent the 
whole of the 7th of March at Puebla, and reached my place of 
destination on the morning of the 8th of March, 1881, 



Pakt III. 

STUDIES ABOUT CIIOIAJLA AND ITS VICINITY. 

TO the cast of the City of Mexico and of the valley which 
bears its name, beyond the two great volcanic peaks of 
the Yztac-cihuatl and Popoca-tcpctl, lies the State of Puebla. 
Like most of the States of the Mexican Confederacy it is very 
irregular in shape. The line of the Vera-Cruz and Mexico 
Railroad divides it into two unequal portions, of which the 
southern is much the larger. It lies between \f 52' and 
20° 36' latitude north ; 96^ 51' and 98^ 50' longitude west. 
Its population has increased from 491, 291, ^ about the close of 
the past century, to 704,372 in 1878, and is spread over an 
area of 31,120 square kilometres (about 12,000 square miles 
English.)''^ Its general topography may be thus briefly de- 
scribed : The eastern and southeastern portions lie upon the 
western slopes of the Sierra de Zongolica, which constitutes 
a southern spur of the high coast-range ; the southern and 
southwestern are occupied by a broad, bare range, running 
from the base of the great volcano of Popoca-tepetl southeast- 
ward, until it faces the coast-range near Tehuacan. The 
general dip of the country is to the south, and its surface 
in that direction is cut up into deep valleys or small basins. 

1 Intendcnciade Puebla,^. 195, MS. in possession of Senoir Garcia-Icazbalceta. 

2 According to Josd M. Garcia, Ideas qice se rccopilan para la corrcccion de 
la Estadlsticay Gcografla del Pais, in Boletm de la Sociedad Mexicana dc Geografia 
y Estadlstka, vol. vii. 1859, the population in 1S38 was 661,902 (p. 139); in 
1858, 655,622 (p. 120). 



8o ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

The climate is hot, and within the comparatively limited 
areas where there is sufficient moisture an exuberant vegeta- 
tion flourishes. This is particularly the case in the south- 
western part. The high ridges are barren, and their summits 
cool ; so that a great variety of climates and products may 
be found within short distances.^ 

The above described portions of Puebla comprise about 
five sixths of the whule area, lea\'ing one sixth for its north- 
western division. This section is bounded on the east by 
undulating- ridges, over which the volcano of Orizaba lifts its 
silvery cone. On the south the bleak tops of the cross range 
terminate the horizon. At the north looms the Malinche, 
dark and frowning, with its shaggy mural summit ; to the 
northwest the view is closed by low, barren mountains, and 
on the west the two gigantic volcanoes of Mexico — the 
Yztac-cihuatl and the Popoca-tepetl in close proximity — 
tower to an immense height ; for while the plain lies on an 
average 2,100 metres (or nearly 7,000 feet) above the level of 
the Gulf, their snow-clad tops rise respectively 2,700 and 
3,300 metres (8,700 and 10,700 feet) higher. The city of 
Puebla itself is situated only 30 to 40 kilometres (20 to 25 
miles) to the east of their base. The whole region forms a 
level basin enclosed within the long slopes of the two vol- 
canoes and of the Malinche. 

In elevation above the level of the sea, and in fertility of 
the soil, this upland plain compares very favorably with the 
valley of Mexico ; but as it is traversed by only one incon- 
siderable stream, the Rio Atoyac, its water supply is scant. 
Although this is a serious disadvantage, compensation is to 

1 Maize is the great staple of Puebla. According to the Estadistica of 
Emiliano Busto, in 1S79, out of a total value of agricultural products of $11,490,- 
650, that of the Indian corn amounted to $8,452,680. Of essentially tropical 
crops, the State in that year produced 5,250,000 kilograms (11,550,000 pounds) 
of sugar, and 468,960 kilograms (1,030,027 pounds) of rice. 



STO'DIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 8 1 

be found in the circumstance that the climate, owing to the 
far greater dryness of the air, is much healthier.^ 

This district, lying in the main little north of the nine- 
teenth degree of latitude (which parallel passes through it a 
few miles south of the city of Puebla), enjoys the equableness 
of a tropical climate, tempered by the high altitude. Although 
that city lies 2,196 metres (7,203 feet) 2 and Cholula 2,104 
metres (6,902 feet) ^ above sea-level, even a light snowfall 
is of very rare occurrence. This, however, is due in part to 
the drought which characterizes the winter months of the 
year; for when I was at Puebla on the 7th of March, 1881, 
the patches of wheat about the Cerro de Guadalupe showed 
occasional traces of being frost-bitten. The warmest months 
are from April till June, but during that period my ther- 
mometer at no time rose, at Cholula or San Nicholas de los 
Ranches, to above 29" Centigrade (84.2° Fahrenheit) in the 
shade. When the rains, which last from June till November, 
begin to fall regularly every day, the air grows cool, and the 
morning is almost always chilly ; so that practically the sum- 
mer months are the coolest of the year. 

During the month of November the rains gradually cease, 
the air becomes dry and serene, and the giant volcanoes shine 
out in unparalleled splendor. The snow-fields below their 
summits, no longer fed by constant precipitation, begin to 
shrink, until the southern slope of the Popoca-tepetl is left 
almost bare. The snow-line therefore, in Mexico, is virtually 
higher in winter than in summer. Winter is not so much 
the cold as the dry season, and all of Nature that rests during 
that period sleeps the sleep of drought and not of frost. 

1 Typhoid fevers are endemic at Puebla as well as at Mexico ; still they are 
far less malignant in the former. Intermittent fevers occur, but not frequently. 

2 Humboldt, Essai politiqzie siir la Noiivelle Esfagne, vol. ii. lib. iii. cap. 8, 
p. 158. 

2 Humboldt, Kosmos, Band iii., 1S5S, p. 434 ; 6,480 French feet; lat. 19° 2'. 

6 



82 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

There is still enough vegetation left to give a green tint to 
the landscape. Fields of wheat and barley are to be seen, 
and hedges and rows of cofossal magueys and columnar cacti, 
and groups of evergreen copal trees/ with slender, graceful 
foliage resembling that of the drooping locust, and thickets 
of opuntiae, and large and stately ash-trees in full foliage, 
while the heavy pine forests of the ticrra fria sweep up the 
slopes of the great volcanoes in dark masses. Although the 
exuberance of the later season is wanting, the Nahuatl Indian, 
struck by the annual change of vegetation much more than 
by astronomical phenomena, has called the year xiluiitl, or 
" new green," and placed its commencement about the close 
of February or the middle of March.^ Then the atmosphere 
begins to lose its transparency ; high and parching south 
winds whirl clouds of sand over the plain, completely shroud- 
ing at intervals even the volcanoes. Clouds gather on the 
mountain tops as the day advances and occasionally overspread 
the sky ; sometimes faint mutterings of distant thunder are 
heard. When on the next morning the sun rises clear and 
bright from behind the peak of Orizaba, it shines upon freshly 
fallen snow on the summit of the INIalinche, which soon melts 
away as the day advances. Gradually, however, the clouds 
sink to lower levels, and in the afternoon showers of hail, often 
of considerable violence, sweep around the base of the Sierra. 

1 ScJiiiuis moUc. 

- The beginning of the Mexican 3'ear is variously stated. Mr. H. H. Ban- 
croft, Native Races, etc., vol. ii. p. 508, has carefully compiled a table from 
twenty-one authors, indicating the epoch as stated by each author. Gama alone 
places it on the 9th of January, all the others between the 2d of February and 
the loth of April. To this list I would add the weighty statement of Fray 
Tuan de Tobar, Codice Ramirez, trat. ii. p. 123: "Era el aiio del mismo 
numero que el nuestro, y de ordinario comenzaba por Marzo, que es cuando 
reverdecen las plantas con nuevas hojas ; por cuya causa Uamaron al airo xihnill, 
que es el nombre de las hojas verdes, y a la rueda llamaban Toximolpilli y 
xitihtlapili, que quiere decir una atadura de hojas verdes, conviene a saber 
de anos." 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 83 

In April and May the first thunder storms descend into the 
plain ; but they are only occasional until June, from which 
time onward they become of daily occurrence. Every noon 
the sky lowers, rain clouds drift majestically from the moun- 
tains across the table-land, and sometimes two or more storms 
are visible at once. Whenever these meet, the rain pours in 
torrents for an hour or more, accompanied by fierce and often 
dangerous electric discharges and but very little wind. As 
a rule the night closes in with a gentle, quiet downpour of 
cooling rain. The " season of waters " {estacion de aguas) 
has now fairly set in ; and in the early morning, when the 
sky has again become clear and limpid, the eye ranges over 
a landscape of wonderful distinctness, exhibiting everywhere 
in its freshly springing foliage the magic effect of the rains. 

We need not wonder that such a region as this northwestern 
corner of the State of Puebla was, at an early date, colonized 
by Spanish immigrants settling alongside of the numerous 
Indian pueblos which had occupied it for a long period before 
the Conquest. Its present political divisions are character- 
istic as well of this immigration as of the aboriginal occu- 
pation of the soil. The region embraces four districts : 
Puebla (which represents the Spanish settlement), and Cho- 
lula, Huexotzinco, and Athxco, — each of which constituted 
at the time of the Conquest an independent tribe of Nahuatl- 
speaking Indians. The population in the year 1878 was: 
Puebla, 72,029; Cholula, 32,178; Huexotzinco, 31,790; total, 
136,003.^ Adding to these numbers between 30,000 and 
40,000 for Atlixco, the census of which I failed to obtain, we 
find one fourth of the inhabitants of the State occupying one 
sixth of its area. 

It has been impossible for me to secure any recent enumer- 
ation of races ; but in an original manuscript to which there 

1 Busto, Estadistica, etc., pp. li. and Hi. 



84 ARCH^OLOGICAL I\STITUTE. 

is appended no date^ (althoug-h it evidently belongs between 
1787 and 1800) I tind the following numbers given: distriet 
of ruebla. — Spaniards, 10.532 ; Indians, 18,940 ; mixed, 
18.387 ; total, 56,859. This shows a percentage of about 
thirty-five per cent of pure white blood, and about thirty- 
three per cent of pure Indians. In the other districts the 
proportions are quite different. 

Whites. Indians. Mixed. Totnl. 

Cholula . . 1.77S 10.40.: 1. 120 :rj.300 
lluexot/inco . .:.i05 it>,:;53 4.101 ---579 

Atlixco . . 4.000 -3-3(^*^ -^""vv^^ 



Totals . . S.Q33 59-*-"'-3 S--^^ 73'-3 7 

In them the whites represent twelve per cent, the Indians 
about eighty per cent, of the whole population ; whereas taking 
all four districts together, there would be about twenty-two 
per cent of whites and sixty per cent of pure Indians. 

I place some importance upon these figures for the reason 
that it has been stated that Puebla, like Cholula and other 
towns, was an ancient Indian site. Such is not the case. 
Puebla, like Atlixco, was founded and built on unoccupied 
soil, far from anv then existing Indian settlement. 

The ground on which the city stands, west and southwest 
of the small rivulet of San Francisco, bore the Indian name 
of Cuetlaxcoapan.*-^ Various etymologies have been given 

1 //wV«</<'«<~»a</<'/V#<'^/<j, MS. in possession of Senor Garcia-Icazbalceta. Hum- 
boldt, jE'jAj//»'/////«<f etc.. vol. ii. lib. iii. c.ip. viii. p. 155, gives statistical data 
of the }"ear 1793. which, in general results, are identical with those of the manu- 
script named. I am therefore inclined to believe that the latter relates to that 
year, 

^ The earliest mention of this name I find in Motolinxa, ffist&ria de hv 
Indiifs </«• A'unxi-Es^pdTiay MS. in the splendid collection called Uf>rv de On? y 
Tc-^wv /miii'Oy belonging to Seilor Garcia-Icazbalceta, — " Vicilapan y a Cuetlax- 
coapan, que es a do agora esta la ciudad de los Angeles " (p. 11) ; " Unas vezes 
diciendo Cuetlaxcoapan : entonces quieren decir el sitio de la ciudad, y otras 
vezes dicen Vicilapan ; hase de entender aquella parte del arroyo a San Fran- 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 85 

for this word, all more or less learned, but an intelligent and 
well-informed Indian, Don Pedro Flores, chief magistrate of 
the pueblo of Coronanco, assured me that it means simply, 
"place where they washed hides." Other natives subse- 
quently confirmed this interpretation. This does not quite 
agree with the statements of Vetancurt,i who says that the 
word signifies "place where they washed intestines." On 
the strength of this latter etymology Puebla has been sup- 
posed to have been anciently a great place of sacrifice. 
There is not the slightest evidence of this. On the hill of 
San Juan Centepec, about 3 kilometres (2 miles) west of 
the city, and south of the carriage road to Cholula, there are 
said to exist slight remains of antiquity, — and also to the 
south of the same eminence, near the Rio Atoyac. But 
although a few objects fabricated by the aborigines may 
have been dug up on the site of Puebla, no trace of any 
settlement has ever been found. The mention made of 
Cuetlaxcoapan in older documents is very slight and obscure. 
All we can gather is that the site lay waste at the time of the 
Conquest, and was regarded as coming within the range of 
the tribe of Cholula. 

After the capture of the pueblo of Mexico, Tlaxcala became, 
next to the young city itself, then growing up on the ruins 
of the former aboriginal capital, the most important point. 
In 1527 it received its first bishop, Don Fray Julian Garces.^ 
It is stated that he iixed upon the site for a Spanish settle- 

cisco" (p. 249). The manuscript has no title, but it is, in many respects, 
much more detailed and complete than the printed Historia, etc. fn order to 
distinguish the two I shall hereafter cite each as follows: Motolini'a, Libra 
de Oro MS.; and Motolinia, Historia, etc., — always referring by the latter to 
the work publisiied in vol. i. of Colcccion de Documentos. 

1 Teatro Mexicaiio, edition of 1S71, vol. ii. pp. 361, 362. He gives various 
etymologies besides. 

2 Vetancurt, Teatro Mexicano, vol. ii. cap. iv., "Tratado de la Ciudad de la 
Puebla de los Angeles," p. 371. 



86 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 

ment within convenient distance of both TJaxcala and Cho- 
]ula, where Puebla now stands.- One of the few thoroughfares 
existing in tlie country passed near by ; and two Spaniards, 
Esteban de Zamora and Pedro Jaime, had established a small 
trading-house on the otherwise unoccupied spot, as well as a 
blacksmith's bench, for the accommodation of occasional trav- 
ellers.- In their letter, dated 30th of March, 1531, to the 
Empress, the Oidores, Salmeron, Maldonado, Ceynos, and 
Quiroga state that they had selected the site " two leagues 
from the city of Cherula (Cholula), where there is very good 
land, in such parts as not to injure any Indians."^ Several 
reasons prompted the Spaniards to desire to have a settlement 
of their own in this region. In the first place, the most power- 
ful tribes of the Mexican table-land were then in the exclusive 
occupation of it ; and it was advisable that a strong Span- 
ish post should be established in their neighborhood, under 
the disguise of a peaceable town, which would serve at the 
same time as a useful station between the young City of 
Mexico and the coast. In the second place it could not fail 
to strike the Spaniards that the climate and soil of the 
country were well adapted to the culture of European cereals 



1 Fray Juan Villa-Sanchez, Puebla Sagrada y Pro/ana, Informe dado a sii mny 
ilustre Ayiintamiento el ano de 1746, published in 1835 by Francisco Javier de la 
Pefia, p. 13. Motolinia (Historia, etc., trat. iii. cap. xvii. p. 231) attributes its 
foundation " a instancia de los frailes menores, los cuales suplicaron a estos 
seiiores, que hiciesen un pueblo de Espaiioles, y que fuesen gente que se diesen 
a labrar los campos y a cultivar la tierra al modo y manera de Espaiia, porque 
la tierra habia muy grande disposicion y aparejo ; y no que todos estuviesen 
esperando repartimientos de Indios." The letter of the " Oidores," Salmeron, 
Maldonado, Ceynos, and Quiroga (published by Garcia-Icazbalceta, Don Fray 
Juan de Zumdrraga, etc , apendice, pp. 252-257) says nothing of either. 

2 Villa-Sanchez, Puebla Sagrada y Prof ana, p. 16. There was then una ven- 
tecilla kept by Estevan de Zamora and Pedro Jaime (the latter a blacksmith), 
"en el lugar endonde hoy son los mesones llamados del Roncal y del Cristo." 

'■^ Carta a la Emperatrh, 30 March, 1531, in Zumarraga, appendix, p. 257, 
" do hay tierras muy buenas, en parte do no se hace perjudicio a Indios." 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 8/ 

which, until then, had to be imported at great cost.i Spanish 
settlers might naturally turn their attention to raising wheat, 
and by their example the Indians might be taught to do 
the same thing ; and thus gradually systematic agriculture 
would be introduced in place of the desultory horticulture 
heretofore exclusively practised. The application for the 
rio-ht of founding a city was therefore received with favor 
bv the Spanish crown; and on the 28th of September, 1531, 
a royal grant was issued establishing the City of the An- 
gels {la Ciuddd de los Angeles), now the city of PuebJa de 
Zaragoza.'^ 

It was on the i6th of April, 1532, that Fray Toribio (Mo- 
toUnia) performed the act of formally blessing the newly 
erected huts and the site for the church of Puebla.^ Thirty- 
three building-lots {solares) had been set off to as many orig- 
inal colonists who composed the population. The friars 
of the Order of St. Francis had control of spiritual affairs, 
and by their influence the Indians of the surrounding pueblos 
' had been brought to assist the colonists voluntarily. One hun- 
dred and sixty Indian hands had originally helped in the con- 
struction of the first humble thatch-roofed houses. When these 
were consecrated, a large number of the natives gathered to 
participate in the ceremony, and as some of them came to 
settle near the town they gradually formed Indian pueblos 
like Amozoc in its vicinity.* 

1 Salmeron, Maldonado, etc., Carta, etc., in Ztcmdrraga, p. 252 of appendix. 
Motolinia, Historia, etc., trat. iii. cap. xvii. pp. 232, 233. 

'•i Humboldt, Essai politique, etc., vol. il. lib. iii. cap. viii. p. 158. 

3 Villa-Sanchez, Piiebla Sagrada y Pj-ofana, p. 17. Motolinia [Historia, etc., 
trat. iii. cap. xvii. p. 232) says 1530; but this is an evident slip of the pen of 
the ecclesiastic who himself blessed the new site. It is not possible that the 
place could have been built before the legal concession was made, and the date 
of the nierced settles the question. 

* According to Villa-Sanchez, Pitebla Sagrada y Pro/ana (p. 17), three hun- 
dred and twenty Indians assisted in building the huts of the first Spanish settlers. 



88 ARCHJEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

Many privileges were granted to the churches of the city. 
Thus, according to an act of the 29th of August, 1536, the 
Indians of the pueblo of Calpan, situated at least 27 kilo- 
metres (18 miles) west of Puebla, had begun to build a church 
of stone in the new town ; and on the 20th of July, 1538, the 
Queen of Spain confirmed to the municipality of Puebla the 
right to compel these Indians to continue the erection of 
the said building, allowing them in compensation a large dimi- 
nution of tribute.^ All this is further evidence of the fact 
that the site of Puebla and its neighborhood were unoccupied 
at the time of the Conquest. 

The growth of Puebla is best shown by figures : — 

In 1532 it began with original settlers (whether with or 

without families is not stated) to the number of . . . 33 
In 15 71, it contained (besides 200 Indian houses), of Span- 
iards, somewhat more than ^ 500 

In 1678 (adults, capable of communion) ^ ..... . 79,800 

In 1746* 53,066 

After 1787 and previous to 1800^ 52,717 

Motoliai'a {Historia, etc., trat. iii. cap. xvii. pp. 232, 233) mentions only those 
Indians who assisted at the festival of the blessing of the new settlement. The 
Relacion f articular de toda la Provincia del Santo Evangelio, que es de la Orden de 
Sant Francisco en la Nueva Espana, y los limites delta, hasta donde se extiende, y 
de todos los monasterios de la dicha Orden que hay en ella, y el mimei'o de frailes 
que hay en cada mo7tasterw, etc., a manuscript belonging to Seiior Garcfa- 
Icazbalceta, of the year 1571, says, in regard to the Indian population of 
Puebla and of its surroundings: "No tienen cargo de pueblos de Indies, porque 
aquella ciudad se fundo en tierra despoblada dellos, aunque despues que los 
Espanoles hicieron alli su asiento, se han allegado y avecindado fuera en los 
arrabales, algunos que han venido de los pueblos comarcanos " (p. 24). 

1 Libra Segundo de la Fundacinn e Historia de la Ciudad de Puebla, manuscript 
attributed to Veytia, in the Museo Nacional of Mexico, cap. i. (no paging). 

2 Relacion particular de toda la Provincia, etc., MS-, A. D. 1 571, p. 24. 

3 Villa-Sanchez, Puebla Sagrada y Profana, p. 38. , He relies upon the state- 
ments of Don Miguel Zeron Zapata : " Sesenta y nueve mil ochocientas personas 
adultas capaces de comunion." 

* Ibid., p. 38. 

^ Intendencia de Puebla, MS. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 89 

About 1808 (according to Humboldt) ^ ...... . 67,600 

In 1852 (according to Almonte) 2 71,631 

In 1878 (otiEcial statistics of the federal government) 3 . . 68,634 

These figures, like most statistics of population, do not 
deserve absolute credit ; still they are instructive. They are 
sufficiently trustworthy to justify us in dividing the three 
and a half centuries of the existence of Puebla into three 
periods : — 

1. Fifty years of slow progress and little growth. 

2. One hundred years of development unequalled, perhaps, 
during the seventeenth century. 

3. Two centuries of stagnation. 

That the new settlement did not grow rapidly during the 
first half-century of its existence is not surprising. It passed, 
while still young and feeble, through the terrible ordeals of 
the epidemics of 1545 and 1576; but after the last named 
plague its development was remarkably rapid. Its industries 
prospered. The Church, while insisting, perhaps too much, 
upon outward display and unprofitable expenditure in archi- 
tecture, was a great employer of labor and creator of fixed 
wealth ; and at the same time it founded institutes of learn- 
ing, of whose treasures, left intact by civil wars, I have often 
gratefully made use. The name of Don Juan de Palafox y 
Mendoza, ninth bishop of Puebla, stands foremost in connec- 
tion with almost every improvement made during that flour- 
ishing period. The subsequent decline and stagnation of the 
city were mainly due to the unfortunate policy of isolation 
adopted by Spain towards its colonies. This isolation did not 
so much affect the Indian, who was always fairly protected in 

1 Essai politique, etc., vol. ii. p. 158. 

'^ Boletin de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografia y Estadistica, vol. vii. 1859. 
Jose M. Garcia, Ideas que se recopilan para la correccion de la Estadistica y Geo- 
grafia del Pais, p. 120. 

3 Emiliano Busto, Estadistica, etc., p. li. 



90 



ARCHuEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 



his limited aspirations, but it weighed down the Spanish immi- 
grant in liis attempts to create a domestic industry for Mexico. 
It is absolutely incorrect to suppose that the Spaniards set- 
tling on Mexican soil were nothing but mere booty-seekers 
and ruthless adventurers. As soon as the commotion of the 
Conquest was over, the men of " sword and cape " were grad- 
ually supplanted by tillers of the soil and by mechanics. 
These, as the figures show, rapidly prospered. But while the 
colonies rose, Spain itself began to decline, and, in proportion 
as it fell, became more and more avaricious of the resources 
of the former. By excluding Mexico from all foreign inter- 
course it ruined the future of its own children on Mexican 
soil ; and Puebla, as a Spanish city, suffered heavily in conse- 
quence. To these causes of its decline must be added two 
epidemics, — the saranipion, of 1692, and the Jiiatlazahuatl, of 

I shall not undertake to discuss the reasons why Puebla has 
advanced so little during this century, — they belong to a 
period the history of which cannot yet be written ; but there 
is every hope that the era of peace, now at last begun in 
Mexico, will become, for the beautiful " City of the Angels," 
an era of prosperity recalling the early centuries of its 
existence. 

It may be objected that discussions like the foregoing are 
foreign to studies whose purpose is strictly archeeological ; 
but I have felt that, in this particular instance, such a digres- 
sion was indispensable. A confusion has always existed, in 
regard to the past of Mexico, between the known and the 
conjectured. Too many productions of historical times have 
been unreasonably assumed to be, in part at least, relics of an 
unknown past. It is therefore important, in every special case, 
to establish first what belongs clearly to authentic history, 

1 Puebla Sagrada y Fro/ana, pp. 41, 63. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 



91 



and then to pass on to the investigation of archseological 
facts. The result, if any, will be to transfer phenomena, here- 
tofore assumed to belong to the latter class, to the domain 
of the former. 

I turn now to the district of Cholula, where for four months 
of my stay in Mexico I made my headquarters among its kind 
and friendly inhabitants. 

The Rio Atoyac forms the dividing line between Puebla 
and Cholula, and the western boundary of the former. It 
takes its source on the slopes of the Yztac-cihuatl, running 
nearly due east until north of the pueblo of San Lorenzo 
Olmecatlan \^ then bends to the south past Puebla, traversing 
the whole State in a winding course, and finally empties into 
the Rio Zacatula, in the State of Guerrero. The Atoyac is a 
shallow stream which, reduced to a narrow fillet in winter, 
often becomes a turbid mountain-torrent in summer, — partic- 
ularly between Puebla and Cholula, where both of its banks 
are steep and rocky, with an occasional interval of timbered 
bottom-land. About 2 miles (3 kilometres) due west of the 
former city, a fine bridge of hewn stones, called Puente de 
Mexico, crosses the river. Until the railroad now in con- 
struction towards Matamoras-Yzucar is finished, the tramway 
connecting Cholula with the State capital will continue to 
pass over the bridge. This structure was built in the second 
half of the sixteenth century.^ 

1 Variously written Olmecatlan, Almecatlan, Amecatlan. The word may be 
significant, and apply to the so-called Olmecas, who are reputed to be the 
founders of Cholula. See La Piramide de Cholula, in vol. iii. of the Museo 
Mexkano, 1844, Note 2. 

2 Gabriel de Rojas, Relacion de Chohda, 15S1, MS., p. 15: "Es rio mediano 
y que se vadea por muchas partes, sobre el cual esta. una buena puente de 
solo un arco en el camino que viene de la ciudad de los Angeles a Mexico, 
que se llama la puente de Cholula." The little tieiida, kept now on the right 
bank near the bridge, dates from a concession to Miguel Mendez, dated 14th 
October, 1634. Archivo General, Mercedes, vol. xxxix. fol. 1S6. 



92 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

Large cotton-factories and mills line the northern bank of 
the river, all driven by water-power except one, which is run 
l^y steam. Hundreds of Indians find occupation in these es- 
tablishments, which have gradually supplanted the hand-loom 
of former days, which was once to be found in almost every 
house of the pueblos of Cholula. There are also large flour- 
mills, and occasional picturesque ruins marking the sites of 
early manufactories. ^ 

On account of the well-known predilection of Indians for 
the neighborhood of water-courses, I hoped to find aboriginal 
remains along the river. In the vicinity of the Puente de 
Mexico, the owner of the venta, Don Trinidad Lopez, kindly 
acted as my guide ; but, although there are ruins, they inva- 
riably contain red brick, which is a sure indication of their 
Spanish origin. There may be older remains beneath, but 
excavations would be necessary to prove this. We know, 
as yet, so little of the surface of Mexico through system- 
atic archaeological explorations, that subsoil investigations, 
although desirable, might not necessarily lead to reliable 
deductions. My ramblings with Seuor Lopez, however, made 
me acquainted with the very ancient aboriginal mounds of 
San Jose del Rancho Viejo. Although not immediately on 
the bank of the river, its neighborhood accounts naturally 
for their position, I have already alluded to the remains 
which are said to exist beyond the hill of Centepec, on the 
eastern or Puebla side of the Atoyac. North of the bridge 
the district of Cholula still claims a small territory on the 
same bank. This tract is traversed by low ridges, and on 

1 In the Archivo General of Mexico I found a concession for a "mill and 
fulling-mill" {molino y bataii) as early as 1576, — Merced a Aiigusthi Villamicz'a, 
Mercedes, vol. x. fol. 145 ; and, in vol. xv. fol. 70, Merced al Hospital de coiibale- 
cientes de Cholula, for a similar establishment, in 1589. The so-called Molino de 
San Diego, north of Cholula, dates back to the Merced a Rodrigo Mendez del 
Castillo, 24 July, 160S, — Mercedes, vol. xxvi. fol. 75. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 



93 



some of them artificial mounds occur. Near the western 
bank, opposite to the place mentioned, the superintendent of 
the hacienda of San Domingo, Don Jose dela Luz Madrid, 
told me that low mounds had been explored which yielded 
much ancient pottery, as well as stone slabs for grinding 
grain {inetlatl, or metates), and other articles of daily house- 
hold use. Close by, a number of skeletons were unearthed. 
It thus appears that the river-banks on both sides were 
inhabited at certain localities in former times, at least south 
of the bend which I have already mentioned as near San 
Lorenzo Olmecatlan ; but no considerable settlement seems 
to have existed beyond the one of San Jose del Rancho 
Viejo, of which I shall hereafter speak. This is explained by 
the simple reason that the fertile lands properly begin at 
some distance west of the river itself. At all events the 
aborigines, whose remains we have noticed, were a mound- 
building, pottery-making people, and probably given to hor- 
ticulture. Whether these settlements were simply outskirts 
of the central pueblo of Cholula, or villages belonging to 
another age and another stock, it is impossible to decide. 
There is no doubt, however, that when the Spanish Conquest 
took place both banks of the Atoyac were regarded as 
belonging to Cholula. 

After crossing the Puente de Mexico, and rounding the 
cultivated knoll on which the mounds of San Jose del Rancho 
Viejo stand, the plain of Cholula proper comes into full view. 
It is nearly level, with a very gentle rise to the north and a 
decline to the south, and it terminates to the west at the long 
slopes of the volcanoes. The district of Cholula extends up 
to the very top of the Popoca-tepetl, and includes part of the 
southern crest of the Yztac-cihuatl. The inhabited portion of 
it, however, is principally the plain itself, with the exception 
of a few pueblos built at the base of the high peaks, like San 



94 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITU'lE. 



Lucas Atzala, San ]\Iateo Ozolco, San Andres Calpan, Santi- 
ago Xalitzintla, and San Nicolas de los Ranches. It must be 
noted that these villages have been but recently added to it, 
having formerly been under the jurisdiction of Huexotzinco. 
The southeastern corner, embracing Santa Clara Ocoyucan 
and San Bernardino Chalchihuapan, runs partly into the cen- 
tral mountain-range of the State. The most recent census 
of the district, made by Don Jose Maria Reyes Ramirez in 
1880,^ gives to the whole district a population of 35.334. It 
is divided into seven municipalities : — 



In the north : Coronango, 11 pueblos 5,652501113 

In the west : San Andrt^s Calpan, 3 „ 3.3S7 „ 

San Nicolas de los Ranchos, 3 

In the southwest : Santa Ysabel, 9 

In the south and southeast : Ocoyucan, 5 

Centre and east : San Andres Cholula, 7 

San Gabriel Cholula. 13 

The latter municipality contains, besides, the city of 

Cholula with 5-5-i 



3-596 
4,282 
3,602 
4,205 



Total 35-334 

In all : i citv, 51 pueblos, 30 haciendas, and 21 ranchos. 

At least three fourths of the inhabitants are Indians speak- 
ing the Nahuatl language, no other aboriginal idiom being 
permanently represented in the district. It will be noticed 
that the north, east, and centre, which are the most level sec- 
tions, contain together 20,467 inhabitants, or fifty-eight per 
cent of the whole population. If we subtract from the total 
the two western sections, added but a short time ago, it 
increases the proportion to about seventy per cent of the 
inhabitants of the original district of Cholula. 

Agriculture forms the main occupation of the people. Ac- 
cording to official statistics of 1S79, Cholula raised in that 

1 EstadUUca Gcogrqfica dd Disti-ito de Cholula, MS. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 



95 



year, agricultural products to the aggregate value of $566,760.^ 
About three centuries ago, cochineal was a staple product of 
the region, but its culture was gradually abandoned, like that 
of cotton. The maguey is extensively cultivated, though the 
pulque is of that repulsive kind named calicnte, and the leaves 
of the great Agave supply the lack of firewood. Except 
on the slopes of the volcanoes, there is little timber in the 
district. 

Although actually very level, even the plain of Cholula has 
variations of climate within short distances. Slight depres- 
sions produce, at such high altitudes, local differences shown 
in the growth or absence of certain plants, the ripening or 
not ripening of certain fruits. 

The methods of agriculture still conform more or less to 
those of former periods. Owing to the concentration of rain- 
fall within about five months of the year, artificial irrigation 
is largely resorted to. The snowfields of the Yztac-cihuatl 
afford the chief supply of water for the plain of Cholula. 
The innumerable fillets of limpid water trickling down its de- 
clivity converge to a few streams which, mainly through the 
dark barranca, near Calpan, burst into the open plain where 
they seem gradually to disappear in the soil, but not until 
some of the water has been led into conduits by which it is 
distributed over the arable ground. 

About the middle of March the fields are regularly irrigated, 
and when the ground has become well soaked, ploughing begins. 
The soil of the plain is a volcanic detritus, sandy-looking and 
very productive. The uncouth plough imported by the Span- 
iards three centuries and a half ago still does fair service. 
Drawn by a pair of stout oxen, harnessed by the horns, it 

1 Among these were maize, 18,278,240 kilograms ; wheat, 1,491,000 kilograms ; 
barley, 1,775,000 kilograms; beans, 761,120 kilograms; red pepper, chile, 193,080 
kilograms; and potatoes, 102,000 kilograms. 



96 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

readily furrows the light sod. It has but one handle, and the 
driver uses his right hand to wield a long iron-pointed goad.^ 
(Plate X. Fig. i.) Duringnhe last days of March the white 
corn is put into the ground, and in the latter part of April 
the yellow and blue corn is planted, and about the same time 
also beans and gourds. After planting, irrigation ceases, and 
the crops are left to grow, with occasional weeding, until the 
close of the rainy season in November, when the maize is 
gathered. On the other hand, wheat and barley are sown in 
November, and they are harvested from the close of April to 
the beginning of June. In some parts of the plain the wheat 
was fully ripe on the 20th of last April. Thrashing is mostly 
done with horses and mules, and the sickle is still largely 
used for reaping. 

In the western portions of the district^ some cultivable 
fields are found upon the slopes of the volcanoes, and even 
within the limits of the forest on its sides, in localities where 
irrigation is not possible. These higher regions enjoy a rain- 
fall more or less throughout all the year. On the heights 
around the pueblo of San Mateo Ozolco, northwest of San 
Nicolas, I saw wheat-fields and blooming maguey in May. 
The elevation above sea-level is about 2600 metres (8coo 
feet), yet the crops do not vary so much in kind as in time 
of maturity.^ 

1 American ploughs are coming into use now, but the natives cut off the 
right handle, Irolding the implement by the left hand only. I have also seen 
riding-ploughs ; and at Panzacola, about 4 kilometres (2\ miles) northwest of 
Puebla, agricultural implements are manufactured after North American pat- 
terns. 

- The municipalities of Calpan and San Nicolas de los Ranchos. 

^ The drinking-water for Ozolco is carried up from a deep and precipitous 
barranca, beyond the fields, by women. It forcibly recalls the Potreros, on the 
west side of the Rio Grande in New Mexico, where of old the pueblos were 
supplied with water daily from caiions with almost vertical sides, and hundreds 
of feet below the surface. Such are the Potrero Viejo, the Potrero de la 
Caiiada quemada, the Potrero de en el Medio, and others. 




Various Details of Modern Architecture. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 97 

In the same district an industry has been preserved which, 
though it has obtained a wider scope since the Conquest, still 
antedates that period. It is the hewing, out of the dark-gray 
volcanic rock called tetzontli (" hairstone "), of the grinding- 
slabs, metlatl, found in every Mexican house. This rock 
comes from the inalpais, or lava-bed, which begins south of 
San Nicolas de los Ranchos, beyond the mountain stream 
called by that name. It lies about the foot of the Popoca- 
tepetl like a rugged platform, deeply cleft, with a few ridges 
and isolated peaks such as the Cerro de Tecuahuitecoya and 
Cerro de Tetiyollotl, rising above it, in advance of the giant 
that towers in their rear.^ Thickets of oak, holly, and occa- 
sional coniferse are scattered over its corrugated surface. The 
malpais is well defined only around the great volcano, while 
the sides of the Yztac-cihuatl run out in massive plateaus. 
At a short distance from San Nicolas the lava is quarried 
with iron sledges and crowbars, and brought on donkeys in 
convenient blocks to the pueblo of whose population many are 
stone-cutters. By steel picks of various sizes, these blocks 
are hewn into the three-legged metlatl, or its long, pointed 
crushing-pin, — the metlapilli o^c son of tJie metlatl. From 
early morning the click of the hammers is to be heard in the 
pueblo. A plain, full-sized metlatl sells for i8| cents, and a 
metlapil for one third of that price. These useful articles are 
carried on the backs, of donkeys to Puebla for sale, — a dis- 
tance of about 30 kilometres (20 miles). The metlatl of to- 
day is always flat, and the metlapilli is long, pointed at both 
ends, and generally four-sided. The metlatl of old was con- 



^ Humboldt [Kosmos, vol. iv. pp. 348, 349) describes particularly the vial- 
pais between San Nicolas de los Ranchos and San Buenaventura, but does not 
speak of any vegetation. This is signihcant. Have the thickets of oak and 
holly, which I have traversed on foot for hours, — sometimes in peril from 
robbers, — grown since 1S04? 

7 



qS ARCH^OLOGICAL ixstitc^te. 

cave ; and its crusbing-piu cither long, cylindrical, and heavy, 
or flat, like those of the New I\Iexican pneblos. 

1 have al\va\ s seen the grinding-slab standing upon legs, 
and all made of one stone ; and nowhere have I met with 
frames such as those into which the Indians of New Mexico 
set their hand-mills. 

The mctlatl is occasionally, though not often, adorned with 
simple figures, and its surface is always left rough, or rather 
picked with a sharp tool like a mill-burr ; but this intentional 
roughing is not so elaborate as the dressing of a mill-stone. 
Besides the corn-grinder, pepper-mortars are also made of lava. 
They are three-legged and hollow, with a spout Dressed 
slabs of stone, fajas, used for building purposes, are also 
manufactured at San Nicolas de los Ranchos. 

Although the inhabited parts of the district of Cholula, as 
already stated, do not extend further west than the pueblo 
of Santiago Xalitzintla, the slopes higher up, and even the 
very summit of the volcano, are the seat of three peculiar 
industries. These are charcoal-burning, turpentine-gather- 
ing, and sulphur-mining; and none of them antedates the 
Conquest. The burning of charcoal about the Popoca- 
tepetl takes place almost exclusively in that region called the 
Monte, among the extensive forests of pines which ascend 
from the lax'a-beds to the limits of tree vegetation. As it 
tloats along the sides of the volcano, the smoke from the 
smouldering charcoal pits might be mistaken for that of 
solfatams, of which, however, there are none outside of the 
crater.^ 



1 The charcoal is packed into crates and brought into Puebla for sale, some- 
times on donke\-s, sometimes oi\ the backs of men. A good deal of it is also sold 
in the pueblos of the plain, where it supplies the place of both firewood and 
maguey lea\-es for cookii\g purposes in those houses, where the pigeon-holed 
range is used in place of the common Indi.w hearths. 



STWVIJ'JS ABOUT CIIOLULA AXD ITS I'/CIATTV. 99 

The gathering of turpentine is mostly confined to the 
Monte of the Yztac-cihuatl, and therefore is mainly done in 
the district of Hucxotzinco.^ 

The crater of the Popoca-tepetl is a valuable mine of native 
sul[)hur. Its vast cup has a diameter of nearly 800 metres 
(about one half an English mile), with such precipitous sides 
of varying heights, that it is considered impossible to descend 
into it unless by means of a rope and crane. These are used 
whenever su][)hur- digging goes on, and a rope of enormous 
length is said to be required. The laborers pass the night at 
the foot of the summit, mostly on the western side, and go up 
every morning before day-break,^ It is known that only a few 
years after the Conquest mining of sulphur was attempted in 
Mexico. It was, however, soon abandoned, and it is only of 
late that it has been systematically resumed. Before the 
Conqilest, the natives never ventured near the summit of 
the mountain. 

Ice, or rather snow, is brought to the plain, chiefly from the 
Yztac-cihuatl, whose snow-fiekls are more extensive and of 
firmer consistency than those of its loftier neighbor. 



1 The full-grown Ocotl {Piniis 7<ariahiUs) is selected for this purpose. About 
one metre above the soil the bark and wood are cut obliquely upon one side 
of the tree, so as to leave an incision beneath like a step. This step is hol- 
lowed out to a bowl {pozo), and in it the liquid resin of the tree collects. I'lvcry 
eight days an Indian empties the bowl into a tin can, and brings the whole to one 
of the places where the necessary machinery for distillation and refining is kept. 

- The sulphur when quarried is packed in mats, peiatcs of four arrohas 
(46 kilograms = loi lbs.) each, and hoisted up by the crane, and when about 
twenty-five such mats have been raised, they are all tied together by a rope. An 
Indian squats down on the snow, making a seat or cushion of his zarape, and 
then, taking in his hand the lower end of this rope, he slides down the great cone 
of snow with great velocity, drawing after him the string of mats. For the dig- 
ging and hoisting he is paid eighty-seven and a half cents per mat. At the 
Rancho dc TIamacaz, a cluster of wooden buildings lying on the northern slope 
of the volcano, near the limits of tree-growth, the sulphur is distilled in iron re- 
torts, and is then ready for market. 



lOO ARCHAEOLOGICAL LYSTITUTE. 

Humboldt has called attention to the fact that the volcanoes 
of Mexico rise on a line extending almost due east and west 
from the Gulf to the Pacific Ocean, as if they had started up 
along a great transcontinental fissure.^ If such is the case, 
then the volcanic system of which the Yztac-cihuatl is the 
northern, the Popoca-tepetl the southern summit, forms a 
cross-range or spur running at right angles to the main rent. 
Both of the great eminences were thrown up on the crest of 
this range. This becomes very apparent if we compare 
the appearance they present from the east, or Cholula side, 
with that from the territory of Chalco, in the valley of 
Mexico, in the west. While from San Mateo Ozolco, for in- 
stance, the Popoca-tepetl rises with an unbroken slope sweep- 
ing up gracefully and uninterruptedly to the snow-clad top, the 
same mountain, as seen from Araecameca, which lies nearer to 
its base, and is 2,480 metres (8,135 feet) above sea-level, shows 
a short cone of eruption set upon the steep slopes of its foun- 
dations. The Yztac-cihuatl is far more massive than its coni- 
cal neighbor, but from the east it descends first in rocky steps, 
then in wooded swellings; while from the west its long icy 
crest appears strikingly like a woman in a white shroud lying 
on her back upon a steep-sided platform. Therefore the name, 
signifying " white woman," was given to it on the western side, 
in the valley of Chalco ; whereas at Cholula it was formerly 
called Yztac-tepetl ("white mountain"), in contradistinction 
to Popoca-tepetl (" smoke mountain "), as the active volcano 
was always styled. (Plate VIII.) 

The Popoca-tepetl has its skeleton formed of dark porphyritic 
and basaltic rocks, while all its ribs and protuberances are cov- 
ered over, and smoothed down by an enormous deposit of vol- 
canic scorire, to which is due the regular form of the peak. 

1 Kosmos, vol. iv. p. 312. The four highest volcanoes of Mexico lie on a line 
from east to west, between latitude iS° 59' and 19' 20'. 



SJUniJwS ABOUT CJIOLUJ.A AA'J-) J IS IJCJAUV. loi 

I''i()ni the cast, as already slated, tl>e iinl)r()keii cone seems lo 
I ise iniieli hi';lui" ihaii from Ihc west. TIu' limils of vet;e- 
lalioii, wliii'h include LIk' so-called Moiile, i\:aeli lo about oiu'; 
half of llie height of ihe mountain, or nearly ,^,<S(x) metres 
(about iJ,5cx.) (eel). Above this the slo[)es are composed of 
dark-^^ray or dirly i"ed volcanic sand, with few crags and rocks 
prolrudiuL;-. Some 5(K) to 1,000 metre's (i,6oo to 3,300 feet) 
higher, begins llu- i-onslanlly var)'ing snow-line, above which 
eternal snow covers the linal slope ol the volcano wherever 
the steepness of the skeleton is not too great to permit its 
lodging. 

The Monte of the i'opoca-lcpetl is a vast forest of pines 
of vaiious species. The a:':.ioiiuUl grows beneath the trees 
in high tufts co\'ercd with \'i'llow blossoms, but the cacti, so 
common in the plain, gradually disappear. Un the steeper 
slopes, a high, still, and shar[) recd-grass grows in profusion. 
In the southern portions I noticed among the dark-greeil 
pinc-bou^hs, the variegated luiiialhuarJtH, whose bright-colored 
l)l()ssoms shone out of the emerald-green foliage. Deer, tur- 
ke\', rabbits, even an occasional puma, haunt the Monte, but 
oidy two or three lanchos reveal the |)ermanent abode of 
man. C"luu\-oal-l)urners, travellers going to and fro between 
the two slopes of the volcanoes, and suspicious characters from 
the villages themselves, are the only persons met with in this 
high antl delightfully cool wooded region. 

The sh)i)es of the Popoca-tepetl towards Cholula supply no 
such innumerable fillets of water as stream down the sides 
ol the Yztac-cihuatl. A few mountain torrents gush down 
thiough the forests towards Atli\c-o; but there are no mur- 
muring brooks, no clear and cool rivulets. l*\)r the district 
of Ch(dula the volcano affords no waler-sup[)ly, all its drain- 
age (lowing to the south. 

While journeying from Santiago Xalitzintla, towards the 



I02 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

Rancho of Tlamacaz, the traveller has the summit of the 
volcano always on his left. The steep pyramid gradually 
turns into a monstrous dome or flat cupola, called by the 
Spaniards by the significant name of " the half-orange." It 
almost fills the entire southern sky, — a dark-gray white- 
capped hump, whose chilly neighborhood is oppressive. 

The Popoca-tepetl has been ascended so often of late that 
I may well dispense with the details of a tedious, but not in 
the least degree dangerous, journey. When I stood on the 
brink of the crater, — a yawning caldron in which the smoke 
of the three solfataras mingled with whirling clouds, — the 
thermometer indicating io° C. (52^ F.), not only was the sky 
overcast, but we were in the midst of a regular snow-fall. 
Nobody was working in the crater at the time, and the crane 
had been removed ; and as it was impossible in the dense 
fog to think of reaching the Pico-mayor, or highest point, 
which stands about 160 metres (about 525 feet) above the 
southeastern brink of the crater, I reluctantly turned back. 
Every outlook was cut off by clouds. In an hour we re- 
traced our steps down the slope, and when, near the bar- 
ranca of Uiloac, we reached the limits of vegetation again, 
the sun broke through the clouds, and the great volcano 
soon cleared, its outlines shining in bright and tantalizing 
distinctness. 

I have already alluded to the shape of the summit of Popoca- 
tepetl. From Puebla it looks conical, because the Pico-mayor 
stands behind the crater. (Plate IX.). As seen from the north, 
the profile is apparent. Previous to the year 1664 that profile 
was probably different, inasmuch as an elevation, similar to 
the western, stood over the eastern rim of the crater. It fell 
during that year, causing such a commotion, that at Puebla " the 
whole city was startled, doors and windows opened at the shock, 
and the ceiling of the staircase of our convent fell down." Thus 



STUDIES ABOUT CIIOLULA AND TTS VICINTTV. 



103 



writes a contemporary, the Franciscan Fray Augustin de 
VctancLirt.^ 

It has been positively stated to me by geologists that the 
l\)poca-tepetl has had no eruption for centuries, which may be 
true so far as the emission of lava is concerned ; but Sahagun, 
speaking of the so-called Toltccs, mentions a volcanic eruption, 
though the mountain, from which it is said to have occurred, 
is difficult to identify.^ Torquemada twice describes the 
appearance of a giant with long thin arms, with which he 
embraced and smothered the doomed Toltec tribe. This 
spectre was followed by a white child seated on the top of a 
very high mountain, from whose putrefied head fetid gases 
spread over the country;^ If this be the myth of a volcanic 
eruption, it may have reference to the Popoca tepetl. 

It is certain, however, that at the time of the Conquest the 
volcano was in active operation, emitting smoke and throwing 
out rocks* with loud detonations. The smoke disappeared in 
1528 ; but in 1540 an eruption began with such force that the 
pueblos at the base of the mountain were dismayed by the 
subterraneous roar preceding and accompanying the outburst. 
The ashes or cinders covered the ground for many leagues 
around, and were carried as far east as Puebla, northeast as 
Tlaxcala, while to the northwest they fell at a distance of 15 
leagues (38 miles, or 62 kilometres).'^ The mountain contin- 
ued to emit columns of smoke at intervals until 1594. On 
the 13th of October, 1663, at two o'clock in the afternoon, a 
dense cloud of ashes suddenly burst out of the crater to a 
great height, darkening the sky. On St. Sebastian's day, the 

1 Teatro Mexicano, vol. i. trat. ii. cap. iv. p. 77. 

2 Ilistoria general de las Cosas de Nueva-Espana, vol. i. lib. lii. cap. x. p. 254, 
2 Monarchia Indiajta, etc., lib. i. cap. xiv. p. 38. 

4 Cortes, Carta Segimda, p. 22. Andres de Tapia, Relacion, etc., p. 574. 
c Motolim'a, Libra de Oro, MS. cap. 65, pp. 263, 264; copied or at least 
corrolwrated by Gomara, Scgtmda Parte de la Crdnica, p. 338. 



I04 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

following year, the fall of the eastern rim of the crater, already- 
referred to, took place, and cinders again descended upon 
Puebla.i In 1692 all tokens of activity had well-nigh dis- 
appeared. In the last and the present centuries the Popo- 
ca-tepetl has a few times shown a film of smoke above its 
summit.^ Earthquake shocks occur every year in its vicinity, 
and the inhabitants of San Nicolas de los Ranchos are oc- 
casionally startled by a dull sound, like a plaintive moan 
muttered' by the slumbering giant. 

On the northern slope of the upper dome of the volcano 
projects the basaltic point of the Pico del Frayle, plainly 
visible at a great distance, like a spur issuing from the side of 
the mountain. Further down, and at the foot of the dome 
itself, lies the Rancho of Tlamacaz, 3,897 metres (12,800 
feet) ^ above the level of the sea. The cliff, or cerro, bear- 
ing the same name, overhangs it to the north. Beyond the 
latter, and the uncouth hump of the Cerro Gordo, is the 
Cumbre, a treeless ridge, forming the divide between San 
Nicolas in the east and Amecameca in the west. 

The Cumbre is historically famous on account of its passage 
in November, 1519, by Cortes and his body of Spaniards on 
their way from Cholula to the valley of Mexico. I have taken 
some pains to investigate the route followed by him on that 
occasion, and find that after leaving the pueblo of Calpan (not 
Xalitzintla, as some of my friends at Cholula were inclined to 
believe) the conqueror moved up to the north of San Mateo 
Ozolco on a long slope belonging to the drainage system of the 

1 Vetancurt, Teatro Mexicano, vol. i. p. 77. 

2 Humboldt, Essai Politiqice, etc., vol. ii. lib. iii. cap. viii. pp. 344, 345. That 
great traveller can well be positive on the subject, since he approached, on the 24th 
January, 1804, as near to the volcano as San Nicolas de los Ranchos, whence he 
saw, at half-past five P. M., a dense cloud of black smoke rolling out of the crater. 
It is also positively stated that storms are at present preceded by tokens of activity 
on the part of the mountain. 

3 Geographische Mitthcilungen, 1S6S, p 97. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 105 

Yztac-cihuatl, into the Monte. There are still traces of an old 
Spanish road in that direction. Passing through a place called 
Cuauhnehuatl, Corte's crossed the Cumbre about noon, and 
from the summit turned to the south, so as to hug the slopes 
of the Popoca-tepetl.i Bending thence to the northward, it 
was while they were yet in the higher timbered regions that 
the Spaniards enjoyed that first glorious view of the valley 
and the lakes which Prescott has so graphically described.^ 
His picture of it, however inimitable, barely does justice to the 
extent and beauty of the scenery, so far as Nature is concerned. 
But he might have omitted the lament over the subsequent 
changes. Those changes, even as regards the picturesque 
alone, have certainly been improvements. Even admitting that 
the population may have decreased since the Conquest, the 
change from primitive horticulture to intelligent agriculture, 
and the introduction of new plants, as well as the change in 
architecture, have increased instead of lessening the beauty 
of the scene. The City of Mexico, with its domes and 
spires glistening in the noon-day sun, is certainly a finer 
sight than was the old pueblo, resting on the dull waters of 
the lagune like an adobe patch surmounted by the clumsy 
mounds of worship. 

When Corte's traversed the eastern slope up to the Cumbre, 
he found that slope completely uninhabited above Calpan. 
This is a fact not to be forgotten. The western declivity was 
in a similar condition, and Amecameca, now a large village, 
was barely noticed by the conquerors.^ 

1 There is a direct descent from the top (a bleak ridge) to Amecameca; but 
if the Spaniards enjoyed the view of the valley of Mexico soon after passing the 
Cumbre, they must have bent to the south for a short distance, and taken, 
as tradition reports, the longer and easier route, now called the Camino Real. I 
descended by the shorter route on the 27th of May, and ascended by the longer 
on the day following. 

2 History of the Conquest of Mexico, vol. ii. book iii. cap. viii. pp. 51, 52. 

3 Cortes, Carta Segunda, pp, 22, 23 ; Bernal D'lez, Historia verdadera, etc., cap. 
Ixxxvi. pp. So, Si. 



I06 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITCrTE, 

North of the Ccrro Gordo the depression eonnecting the two 
volcanoes begins to rise towards the Yztac-cihiiatl. The crest 
contains ca\cs. where I was assured that the Indians still con- 
ceal stone statues, before which they continue to perform idola- 
trous rites in secret. I intended to visit these caves on the 
24th of IMay. but my Indian guides, while promising to lead me 
to them, finally carried me far away to the north. The region 
is an utterly wild labyrinth of steep and lofty rocks, partly over- 
grown by timber, through which narrow gorges are cut, which 
sometimes widen out to little valleys. It is, and was during 
times of distinct tradition, completely uninhabited ; and now 
turpentine-gatherers and hunters alone roam through it. 

The crest terminates at the foot of the southern point of the 
Yztac-cihuatl. As already stated, this mountain, while lower 
now than the Popoca-tepetl, is much more massive, restiug on a 
base about twice as long from north to south, and somewhat 
broader from east to west, than that of the active volcano. 
This base, or pedestal, may be considered as reaching up to 
the snow-line, at\d on it rises a snow-covered crest, compara- 
tivelv low. with three summits from south to north, of which 
the northern one is the highest. The base projects at both 
extremities very distinctly, and at the southern end a lofty 
columnar crag rises into the snowy regions, leaving a gap 
between it and the main summit to the north. 

I have spoken of the different aspects presented by the vol- 
canoes from the cast and west sides. As seen from the upper 
valley of Chalco, the Yztac-cihuatl has a placid, inidisturbed 
appearance, with its undulating snowy ridge extended like a 
woman in her last repose. From the Cholula side it presents 
a torn mural front, slightly amphitheatral to the southeast, 
from beneath which huge wooded plateaus sweep down 
towards the plain, cut through by steep gorges of great 
length. It took me a day's journey on foot, and considerable 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 107 

toil, to ascend through the gorge called barranca de Apulco 
up to its headwaters, the Cienega de Tecucho, close to the 
snow-line. The Monte of the Yztac-cihuatl, while not less 
solitary than the Monte of the volcano, is much more vast ; 
its whole area is covered by stately pines, and there is a con- 
slant abundance of water, which we miss in the latter. Not 
only do several brooks sometimes pour down through the 
same barranca, but the almost vertical slopes of the higher 
regions are perfect fountains, and the narrow belt projecting 
from under the snow is covered with pools of limpid water. 
Into the deep gorge of Apulco four cascades descend from 
great heights. 

The rock of the Yztac-cihuatl is more compact than that of 
the volcano. It is lighter colored, sometimes reddish, seldom 
amygdaloid or spongy, and very uniform. Volcanic ashes are 
seen in occasional patches about the snow-line. Pumice- 
stone was shown to me at Calpan, but it probably came from 
the volcano, I searched diligently for obsidian, and at last 
came to the conclusion that there is none to be found on cither 
mountain. Neither could I find any trace of chalchiJmitl. I 
consider this negative result conclusive in regard to obsidian, 
since, owing to its extensive use by the natives before the Con- 
quest, we must conclude that it most probably cropped out in 
large masses easily discernible ; but as the various green min- 
erals to which the name cha/chihuiti^ is applied were much 
more valuable, it is probable that they were only found in thin 
seams, which are either exhausted, or which escaped my obser- 
vation. A thorough geological exploration can alone decide 
the point. 

1 The name should properly be written chal-xiJntitl (x standing for sh), as it 
is pronounced by the Mexican Indians. They are still very reticent about these 
stones. At the Hacienda of Buena Vista I was positively assured by an Indian 
i\\-\'icJialchihHitl occurs on the slopes of the Yztac-cihuatl, but when I asked him 
to show nic the jjIucc, he denied all knowledge of the locality. 



loS ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

Humboldt has remarked that the longitudinal axes of the 
two highest craters in Mexico, — those of Orizaba and of 
Popoca-tepetl, — run from sbutheast to northwest. ^ These 
craters have each a tendency to grow in a southeasterly direc- 
tion. The Yztac-cihuatl has the aspect of a volcano, once far 
higher than either of its present neighbors, whose crater has 
fallen in on the southeast side. The gap thus formed seems 
to have been gradually worn out to such an extent as com- 
pletely to obliterate the whole eastern part of the sum- 
mit. The snowy crest and a few portions of its western 
base left standing seem to be the last remnants of the 
original cone of eruption. The debris of the east slope and 
top accordingly would now constitute the soil of the district 
of Cholula. It is indeed singular, that, while the lower slopes 
themselves of the Yztac-cihuatl rest on solid rock, still lower 
down the barrancas cut through immense deposits of volcanic 
detritus or sand. This is very plain in the barranca of 
Atiopan (through which pass the waters of Calpan). the bar- 
ranca of Cuahuitenco (between Calpan and San Nicolas), 
and east of the latter place the picturesque barranca del 
Teoton on the Hacienda of San Benito. These masses of 
volcanic debris thin out, as they spread eastward, to a fertile 
layer of black volcanic soil of sandy appearance, reaching 
ver}' nearlv to the Rio Ato}-ac. It seems reasonable to con- 
clude, therefore, that the plain of Cholula and the territory of 
Huexotzinco owe their present topography and physical basis 
to the wasting of the high volcano, whose ruins are still extant 
in the present mountain of Yztac-cihuatl. 

This inference that the Yztac-cihuatl may be an ancient 
wasted volcano bears upon archaeology in two ways. In the 
first place it touches the question of the antiquity of man on 
the plain of Cholula. No local tradition that could be applied 

1 Essai foUti(iU€,\o\. i. p. 165. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 109 

to such a geological cataclysm has been found among the 
Indians of Mexico. But the cosmological legends of the 
aborigines speak of destructions of the world by fire and by 
earthquakes, which overthrew the mountains and changed 
their forms ; and tales of this sort must be taken in a local 
sense. The earth is small to man in the lower stages of 
culture. His valley, or the table-land on which he lives and 
expects to die, — these are the world to him ; and in treating 
of " ages of creation " as described by the American Indians, 
we should always bear in mind the warning of Father Joseph 
de Acosta concerning the deluge in America : "' There is 
among them commonly a distinct knowledge of, and much 
talk about, the deluge ; but it cannot be well ascertained 
whether this deluge to which they refer is the universal one 
related by the Holy Scriptures, or whether it was some 
other deluge or special inundation of the regions which they 
inhabit." -^ 

If on the plains about Cholula man preceded the for- 
mation of the layers of volcanic detritus now covering its 
surface, then vestiges of such ancient occupation must be 
sought for beneath those layers. The existence of buried 
remains along the Rio Atoyac, where the volcanic deposits 
crop out, is not a proof of this, as such remains may belong 
to a later age. But special investigations carried on suf- 
ficiently far back from the exposed surfaces to avoid mis- 
taking objects which have fallen down or have been washed 
in for such as have remained in situ, would possibly deter- 
mine the question. Still here arises another difficulty. The 
torrent-like rains of the tropics denude the slopes, thus ex- 
posing the tepctlatl, a yellow indurated clay forming the base 
of the whole region. I have often found pottery and obsidian 
flints and broken inetates resting immediately on this subsoil, 

1 Historia natural y mo7-al de las Indias, 160S, lib. i. cap. 25, p. 82. 



no ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITi'TE. 

Heavy objects, besides, might possibly sink tlirougli the Ughter 
superficial strata to considerable depths. Discoveries in the 
tcpctlati itself would be ot much greater positive value, but 
the age of that material in its relation to volcanic deposits 
must first be carefully determined. 

The hypothesis which I have suggested also applies to the 
relative age of both high peaks. If the Yztac-cihuatl is a 
burnt-out volcano, then Popoca-tcpetl, as its position and form 
indeed indicate, is of more recent origin. Subsoil investi- 
gations on tlie latter would therefore have to be conducted 
with due regard to such a difference in age. Besides, we mav 
well ask if the tradition already related of the white child 
appearing upon a high summit might not perhaps be an in- 
distinct record of the formation of the latter mountain, with 
its snowv cone, within the period of dim human remem- 
brance } I place no stress on either of these suggestions, 
but throw them out as queries, which it is for specialists 
to answer. 

From the foot of the volcanoes, about due east of San 
Nicolas de los Ranchos, there e.Ktends a line of isolated vol- 
canic eminences. In the presence of the giants behind them 
they appear like hills, although elsewhere they would be re- 
garded as considerable mountains. They are, reckoning from 
west to east, the Teoton, the Tecaxete, and the Cerro de 
Tzapotecas. The last named terminates about 4 kilometres 
(2i< miles) west of the city of Cholula. 

Cholula lies upon a perfectly level plain, unbroken except 
by the great artificial mound called the Pyramid, which 
stands boldly out on the eastern outskirts of the city. There 
are no streams in the vicinity, and circular wells furnish alka- 
line water at a depth of from 5 to 22 varas (4^4 to \<)}i 
metres, or 14 to 60 feet). In the streets wide conduits of 
red brick are still occasionally found, belonging to old chan- 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY, i i i 

nels of Spanish origin. At present the supply of drinking- 
water is brought on donkeys or by men from Coronango, 
8 kilometres (5 miles) to the north. There is a fountain in 
the central square which was built by the Spaniards in 1581,1 
but although the Indians still resort to it for their household 
wants, the wealthier classes (among whom are included many 
aborigines) prefer the waters of Coronango, the wholesome 
qualities of which they learned soon after the Conquest. 
The httle rivulet which flows towards the city from San 
Antonio, on the southeastern point of the Cerro de Tzapo- 
tecas, is only used for irrigation and for the washing of 
clothes. 

The city is divided into four wards, and is laid out with the 
greatest regularity, with streets running at right angles, and 
generally paved, though towards the outskirts the sandy soil 
appears. Their width is about 7 to 10 metres (23 to 33 feet), 
and as they are very straight, and the houses often are one- 
storied, their appearance is neither dark nor dingy. The nar- 
row pavements close to the houses are mostly made of sheets 
of lava {l(y'as) quarried at the foot of the volcanoes, but the 
middle of the street is depressed so as to form a channel. In 
the centre of the city lies the public square, called the Zocalo, 
— a lovely garden, shaded by Eucalyptus trees, and blooming 
with roses and geraniums. To the west of it extends the 
market-place, still generally called the Tianquiz.^ 

Of the public buildings, the churches claim principal atten- 
tion. In the northeast corner of the square stands the great 
Franciscan convent, with three places of worship, — the con- 
vent-church proper, the so-called Terccr-orden, and finally the 
Capilla Real, — a magnificent construction. Its roof rests on 

1 Rclacion de Choliila, MS., also map accompanying it. 

2 On the southwest corner of the Tianquiz there stands an ash tree, which, 
planted in 1852, has already reached a diameter of i 50'' (5 feet). 



I I 2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL LYSTITUTE. 

sixty-four large round columns, which supj^ort sixtv-thrce 
arches. The interior i>t" ihis \asL Inill, in which I ha\e seen 
as many as three thousand people gathered on Good Friday, 
is much neglected, even the raiii being suffered to enter. Its 
one hundred and lour windows are mostly broken, and there 
are but tew altars still in use. 

The convent of the Franciscans was begun in the early 
part of the sixteenth century; at least a building of that kind 
existed in Cholula prior to 1529.^ The present one is said to 
have been tinished in 1604, ^^^d the royal chapel, formerly 
called " chapel of the natives " (and still regarded as specially 
belonging to the Indians), in 160S." 

The convent, whose proper name is San Gabriel Cholula. 
is said to rest on the spot where stood the principal mound 
of worship of the aborigines at the time of the Conquest.^ 
Recent excavations, however, made by the Christian Brothers, 
whose college is now in the building, have not brought any 
antiquities to light. The inner court in which these inves- 
tigations were conducted has a gallery or archway running 
around it. on whose columns are painted the portraits of twelve 
Fathers who lived in the convent at an early date, headed by 
Fray Miguel Navarro, and closing with Fray Joan Osorio ; 
most of whom are known to have lived and died in the six- 
teenth century. 

1 Garcia-Tcazbalceta, Zurmirraga, Appendice, p. 243. " Informncion," be- 
ginning at Cliolnla, 3d May, 1529, " Guardian del ^tonasterio del pueblo, Fray 
Alonso Xuarez." 

- Jose ]Maria Reyes Ramirez, EstaJistica gi'ogrdjica dd distrito de Cholula, 
JMS. 18S0. On the steps of the court is carved the date, i6oS, while on the 
stone cross that of 1660 is given. In 1652 the Camilla Real was taken from the 
Franciscans and given to the secular clergy. Vetancurt, Cronica de la Prmuna'a 
dd Sa/ito Kviuiirglio de J/ex/eo, pp. 172 and 173. 

^ Gabriel de Rojas, /Heliidoft de Cholula, MS., 1581. § 14: " Estos dos Indies 
estaban en un templo, el mayor que habia in esta ciudad, que se ll.iniaba Quezal- 
coatl (donde agora es el convento de religiosos que hay en ella)." 



STUDIES Ar,OUl' CIIOIAJr.A AND IIS VICINITY. \ 13 

On the northwest corner of the Zucalo is the great Parroqiiia, 
or principal churcli of the city. It is of mfjre modern date, 
hut I have not been able to learn when it was built, 'i'he 
edifice is a stately one, and when on the i.Slh of March, after 
sunset, its two towers began to blaze in the light of huge 
torches, the sight was weird and imposing. Its patron saint 
is St. Peter, ruid its i)roi)cr name, San Pedro Tlatikenanco.' 
While the books of the parish begin in 1641 only, there is a 
mention of a church of San Pedro y San Pablo Tlaquil- 
tcnanco in a document of the year 1555, the said church 
being llun in process of construction.^ It is certain, how- 
ever, that in i5<Sr the site now occupied by the ParrSqiiia 
was that of the Court of Justice, or Audiaicia, a long two-story 
building with arches and portals in front, as it is represented 
on a map of Cholula, executed in the latter year. 

Besides the Parroquia, the city contains at least twenty-two 
other churches, not counting the shrine of Nuestra Sefiora dc 
los Remedios, on the summit of the so-called pyramid, and 
that of Nuestra Sefiora de Guadalupe, on a natural hill west of 
the city. A number of these are abandoned and decaying. 
Although 1 have not been able to fix the dates when these 
various churches were built, there is an evident indication of 
shrinkage in the fact that those which arc abandoned lie in 
the outskirts of the city. I'arther on I shall show that this 
shrinkage is not an evidence of depopulation, but of con- 
centration around an interior nucleus. At the close of the 
seventeenth century the city contained, besides the convent 
and the royal chapel, eighteen hermitages, " some of which 
may serve as churches." ^ It appears, therefore, that the 

i Ramirez, Estadist'ica, MS. 

2 Testamcnto de Capixlahuatzin, MS: "Que mi hijo Scl)astian dc Mcndoza 
Cuatlapol a dc acabar de hacer la Yglcsia de San Pedro y San Paljlo Tlaquil- 
tenanco en la tierra del Seiiorio." 

'^ Vctancurt, CrSnica, etc., p. 173. 

8 



114 Jl/^CIf.£:OLOG/CAL IMST/TCrTE, 

large sanctuaries now standing, including the Pam'tj:.:,:. vUc 
the work of the past century, and furnish no evidence of a 
larger population in previous times. 

There are no g\->venunent building's at Cholula. In the 
block west of the ^t>a?/t». the dr/V /clttico of the district and 
the municipality of the city have their offices in the locality 
called the Perfa/es. There also are the jail and the archives. 
The otBces of the various judg^es are scattered among the 
private houses. The rorfaus, before refeiTed to. were built 
in 1646, under the vice-royalty of the Marquis de Sal\-ati- 
erra, for government purposes, according to a tablet of stone 
inserted in the outer wall near the jail. But in 15S1 that 
whole space was still vacant ; the Corre^hfcr occupied an iso- 
lated house so\ith of the Zdcah^ and the Audiatcia met, as 
already stated, on the site of the actual Pam^qnia^ The 
bulk of the people, exclusively Indians, lived in groups of 
houses farther away from what is now the centre and busi- 
ness part of the city> leaving that centre much more un- 
occupied than at the present time. 

Cholula pivpcr has but few industries. Cotton goods are 
woven in private houses on hand-looms, which, however, are 
no longer of the primitive mechanism. Fireworks are manu- 
factured to perfection and in great quantities, and there are 
one or two small stills : otherwise there is little done. The 
abandoning of the cochineal culture was the first blow to 
the place, and the growth of Puebia has cast a blight over 
the largx^ Indian pueblo. 

The fabrication of pottery was transferred to the young 
Spanish city, not in a compulsory way. but gradually in the 
natural course of events. Finally the establishment of cotton 
mills on the Rio Atoj'ac has gTeatly diminished, if not com- 
pletelv ruined, the home industry of Cholula. 

1 See map of Cholula oi the \-«iir 1581. 



1,645 i^^^iils. 


1,220 


(t 


1-509 


(< 


1,147 


(< 



STUDIES ABOUT CJIOLULA AND TTS VICINTTY. 1 15 

I have alroiuly stated lliat the city is divided into four wards. 
These wards aiul their relative situations arc as follows : 

In the Northwest, Santia:;o, . . . 

Nortlioast, Jt\sus, .... 

StJuthwost, Saiila Maria, . . 

Soullieast, San TabU), . 

Total, 5,521 souls, — 

occupying; an area of 1,325 acres.^ This includes fields, gar- 
dens, and even the base of the so-called pyramid which alone 
covers twenty-five acres, so that little more than one half of 
the wlutle surface is occupied by the buildings proper. They 
are all of adobe and stone, but the former prevails. They are 
frequently one-storied, rectangular or square, built around an 
inner court, and whitewashed and painted on the outside. 
Large doorways, closed by double doors, which in the older 
buildings are decorated as well as strengthened by wrought- 
iron nails, give entrance to the better houses. The sides of 
these doorways, and even the lintels, are often made of red 
brick ; and in that case a squared wooden beam is laid across 
the top. The corners of the buildings are sometimes of 
brick also, but hewn blocks of lava, mostly parallclopipeds, 
are equally used in such places. Of stone lintels I have seen 
four kintls, besides the tall portals o{ modern dwellings. 

One is simply a heavy parallelopiped of lava, resting on tlie 
sides at both ends. The other is also flat, but composed of 
trapezoidally cut blocks, those in the middle being wedge- 
shaped, so as to form a key-stone. The third kind is a very 
fiat arch, with two irregular wedges forming key-stones. 

The fourth kind is very peculiar, and I have not as yet 
seen it anywhere else than at Cholula, and its former quarter 
of San Andres, now an independent pueblo. I know, in fact, 

^ Ramirez, Estadistica, etc., MS. 



Il6 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

of but four, three of which are in the city, and one in San 
Andres. It is also a low flat arch, composed of only three 
pieces, one of which, as the annexed cut shows {a), is a perfect 
key-stone, fitted in between two blocks {b) and {c). These 
last Hntels, as well as the sides of their doorways, are elabo- 




FlG. 3. 



rately carved with human faces, bearing a strange resemblance 
to those found on ancient pottery. Still there are other marks 
showing that, although undoubtedly of Indian fabric, they post- 
date the Conquest. 

The rooms of the houses are generally very high, and the 
windows few in number but large, with iron railings, and 
closed by heavy wooden shutters on the inside. The ceilings 
are of wood, supported by regular joists, which in the better 
houses are well painted and have a pretty effect. The roofs, 
invariably flat, are made of adobe, with a calcareous com- 
position, impermeable to rain, overlaying it. The method of 
constructing the roofs bears directly upon archseological ques- 
tions, as does almost every point relating to the present archi- 
tecture of Cholula. There is such a strange admixture of 
aboriginal and imported features that it is very difficult to dis- 
criminate between them ; so that a full statement of what now 
exists is needed to prevent misconceptions in regard to what 
are remains of former times. 

There is neither cellar nor chimney to be found in the 
whole district of Cholula. Cellars are not necessary, as the 
climate is so temperate that all stores can be preserved above 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. \ i 7 

ground ; and if the weather ever grows unusually cool, the 
rooms are warmed by braziers, while the food is cooked in long, 
generally semi-circular, brick ranges. These have their convex 
front perforated by a number of pigeon-holes for the fire, with 
a fire-place immediately above, and are fed with charcoal only, 
so that no smoke is created. What smoke does arise from an 
Indian hearth eventually finds its escape through the door and 
windows. Not unfrequently this hearth is placed in a corner 
of the inner court, with no other shelter than a few boards 
or maguey-leaves. 

Although the aboriginal population is fairly represented in 
the city of Cholula, its stronghold proper is the villages or pue- 
blos. There are many pueblos which do not contain a single 
white man ; in others the Cura is the only one not of Indian 
blood. It would seem, therefore, to be easy to study the customs 
and manners of the aborigines ; but in reality it is a very dif- 
ficult work. In the first place the Indians have been in close 
contact with the whites for nearly four centuries past, and have 
consequently modified to a great extent their habits and mode 
of life. In the second place the Indian of the Nahuatl stock 
is naturally shy and suspicious, and not prone to give reliable 
information on any topics whatever unless he is thoroughly 
satisfied either that such information is absolutely harmless, 
or that it will be a direct benefit to him to tell the truth. 
Those ;vho are not sufficiently prepared for the task might 
reside for months in a pueblo without deriving any profit 
from such residence, though treated with the greatest polite- 
ness and affability. 

Though the Nahuatl Indian is often as tall as any native 
North-American of average height, his frame seems to be 
more delicately formed than most. I did not see in the whole 
district a clumsily built Indian. Their chests are less broad 
than the negro's ; their arms are not so long as his, and 



IlS ARCHAEOLOGICAL LYSTITC/TE. 

their hands and feet are small and slender. If the whites in 
Mexico were a more broad-shouldered, strong-limbed race, like 
the people of the North, the aborigines would seem to be phys- 
ically a smaller, much more delicate type, as the pueblo Indians 
of New Mexico seem in the streets of Santa Fe. Though they 
are naturally straight and rather graceful, the habit of carry- 
ing loads on their backs, or rather foreheads, and of using hoes 
and shovels, often bends their forms. In spite of his slender 
frame, however, the Indian is strong and remarkably endur- 
ing. While riding from San Nicolas to Calpan on the i8th of 
May I overtook a boy, only fourteen years of age, who was 
going to Huexotzinco on foot, a distance of i6 kilometres {lo 
miles), to return the same day with a load of 3 arrobas (75 lbs.) 
on his back. Grown men frequently carry 6 arrobas (151 lbs.) 
and even 8 arrobas (202 lbs.) long distances. The effects of 
early training should not, however, be overlooked here. The 
women carry as heavy loads as the men, in proportion to their 
size; and both sexes are steady, and fast walkers. Returning 
from or going to market, they sometimes trot for leagues. 
The altitude of the region and the consequent thinness of 
the air much facilitate walking, as I have often experienced. 

Although there is not that great difference in height be- 
tween the sexes which strikes the observer among the pue- 
blos of New Mexico, the women naturally are somewhat 
smaller than the men. Their features are often round and 
their faces flat ; noses slightly upturned, and pouting lips 
abound ; and invariably they have large dark eyes and long 
jet-black hair. Still I have seen many with thin features 
The men appeared to me generally to have thinner faces, 
and consequently sharper profiles ; unusually high cheek 
bones occur, but not as a rule. The hair of the men is mostly 
straight, black, but not always coarse. In general, I must 
confess my inability to detect any peculiar type. Measure- 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 119 

ments alone, and of a large number of individuals of both 
sexes, could give trustworthy results ; but unless such meas- 
urements were made by command of the Government, it 
would be unsafe to attempt them.^ 

The study of the physical characteristics of the Indians in 
the Cholula district is rendered very uncertain, by the utter 
impossibility of determining whether any particular individual 
can be regarded as of pure type or not. The two races are 
so blended that we can seldom judge whether any one is of 
unmixed blood, or whether there is something of the Mestizo 
in him. I was consequently compelled to consider those 
as Indians who called themselves such, and lived after the 
Indian manner, and claimed the Nahuatl language as their 
native tongue. 

An early document says in regard to the idiom at Cholula : 
" They speak it somewhat more clumsily than at Mexico and 
Tezcuco." 2 I am unable to decide on this point, but must re- 
call the fact (already mentioned in Part I.) that the Nahuatl 
of Cholula struck me as much more euphonious and elegant 
than that of the coast-range near Orizaba and Tehuacan. 
The former is a clear-sounding labial and lingual speech ; the 
latter contains gutturals, or certainly strong aspirates. These 
cut up the flow of language, so to speak, and give to it 
that peculiar clumsiness which justifies the ancient Mexican 
term popoluca, " stutterer," applied by the valley tribes to 
others. It has been supposed that only such aborigines as 
spoke foreign idioms were included under this head, but in 
view of the marked difference in sound just mentioned, I sus- 

1 At San Juan Cuauhtlantzinco, a village formed after the Conquest by In- 
dians from Cholula and Tlaxcala, I noticed that the forehead of the men ap- 
peared to retreat from the superciliary ridge. The frontal bone itself was short, 
and seemed almost vertical. The face was generally slightly prognathous. 

2 Rojas, Relacion de Cholula, MS. § 5 : " Hablan todos la lengua Mexi- 
cana, algo mas tosca que los de Mexico y Tezcuco." 



I20 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

pect that it also applied to branches of ihe Nahuatl. In re- 
gard to the peculiar sound of that language as I heard it here 
spoken, I can only say that there is not the slightest analogy 
between it and the pueblo idioms in New Mexico. This may 
appear to be a superfluous or even trivial remark ; but we 
should never forget that while the grammatical construction 
of languages has always been the object of study, the man- 
ner of the formation of sound is yet but imperfectly known. 
In the present case the question arises as to which was the 
original mode of speech ; whether the clear-sounding, vocal, 
Italian-like enunciation of the plateaus, or the roughly aspi- 
rated, almost guttural tones of the mountains. Is the former 
a result of higher development, or the latter a consequence 
of isolation and decay .'* 

Much has been said about long words in the Mexican 
tongue. So far as my experience goes, such words in practice 
are used as sentences and not as single substantives. Greet- 
ings are very formal, and appear almost interminable; but they 
are mere set phrases, with Spanish words intermingled, which 
are " rattled out," accompanied by gestures of great and often 
dignified politeness. I have no doubt that they are inheri- 
tances from the early period of Spanish domination. 

The Indians of Cholula cling, very tenaciously, to certain 
fashions of clothing. It is not to be concluded, however, that 
the articles worn are of the same fashion as at the time of the 
Conquest.^ The present dress of a male Indian consists of 
a white cotton shirt, originally called nipilli, now worn with 

1 They gracUuilly began to change towards the middle of the sixteenth cen- 
tury. Rojas, Rehuion, etc, § 15: " Al prescnte se visten en general de 
camisas y zaragiieles que de los Espanoles han tornado, todo de algodon, y 
algnnos dellos usan zapatos, y todos sombreros, al uso espanol, y otros traen 
los propios zapatos antiguos que Uaman Cactli, y en general traen las dichas 
mantas blancas, cjue llaman tilmatl, anudadas, conio he dicho, al hombro 
derecho." 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 12I 

sleeves. This shirt is commonly unbleached, although some- 
times a fine bleached one is bought at Paebla, with a tucked 
and plaited front, like a French blouse, and worn on Sundays. 
Wide trousers, also of white cotton, hang down to the knee ; 
the lower limbs are bare, and the foot rests on (not in) a 
sandal, — cactli. The cactli consists of a sole, made of strong 
tanned leather, with strips of skin (sometimes of deer-hide, 
or often mere pieces of raw-hide) sewn to it in front and on 
both sides. The two strips in front are passed between the 
great and the second toes, and thence around the ankle, where 
they are tied ; those from each side meet the others on the 
instep. Thus the foot is left virtually bare, the sole alone be- 
ing protected ; and this shoe the Indians greatly prefer to 
any other for walking. The head is always covered by a 
broad-brimmed hat, made out of petate, or matting, — a very 
durable and exceedingly practical article. 

Beneath the trousers or white drawers they still wear 
the maxtlatl or original diaper. It is singular how long this 
ancient garment has remained in use. I found it among the 
pueblos of New Mexico, worn beneath machine-made panta- 
loons from factories in New En2;land. 

To protect themselves from the cold, or rather from the 
chilliness, more keenly felt in a climate otherwise equable, 
woollen zarapes, or blankets, are used. They are commonly 
made of coarse, gaudily-colored wool, by Indians of the State 
of Tlaxcula (or some other places) ; or sometimes of cotton 
with a slit so as to admit the head. 

The common dress of the women is a petticoat, — some- 
times of cotton, and often of dark heavy wool. This gar- 
ment is made in one piece and fastened behind, both sides 
overlapping. Beneath it they wear a chemise without sleeves, 
often embroidered with beads. ^ 

1 These embroideries, made by Indian women of Cholula and vicinity, cost 



122 ARCH^OLOGICAL IXSTITCrTE. 

In addition to those artiolos of clothing the women wear 
the reboso, w long scarf of blue cotton, ituitating a narrow 
shawl introduced by the Spaniards. But I have seen the 
women of the pueblo of Tlaxcallantzinco, east of Cholula, on 
their way to market wearing an embroidered breast-cloth, 
through which they pass the head, and whose stitched pat- 
terns are very similar to those still exhumed on the coast of 
Peru.i 

The Indian woman either wears the cactlL or goes bare- 
footed. The head is often covered by a hat of matting, which 
they remove as scrupulously as the men do at greeting, and 
in addition they wind around the head a tress of their own 
lustrous hair, with bright-colored ribbons interwoven. This 
turban-like ornament certainly antedates the Conquest.^ 

Small children often wear merely a shirt. But even a 
child of four years old, if a boy, is dressed in little trousers ; 
if a girl, in a small skirt. The innocent nudity of the chil- 
dren in the pueblos of the north is not seen among the 
Indians of Cholula. 

from $1 to $^ per set. It is singular that the \>-ord chaqsdm for bead, which 
belongs to a langvvage of the Isthmus (Coiba or Cueva), should have been carried 
by the Spaniards as far north as the New Mexican pueblos, and as far south 
as Peru and Chili. 

1 This is an aboriginal garment, dating from before the Conquest. It is well- 
described by Rojas, Rdaa<.*rt, etc.. § 15: "Y sobre las naguas un guipilli de la 
propria hechura de sobrepelliz sin mangas ; con svis ruedos 6 ccnefas labradas 
de algodon de aUores con fluecv,is de pelo de conejos y liebres y pluma do patos, 
aderezado para aquel efecto, Tienen estos guipilles dos escudos cuadrados, uno 
en los pechos y otro en las espaldas, muy labrados de muchos colores y oro, con 
divers;\s figuras, cv^mo son de aves y pescado, y animales, el cual traje usan 
ahora sin discrepar." I tried in vain to purchase one. 

=* W. Bullock, Six Mi^tttks" RfsiiUncf and Traz-els in Mexico, 1S-4. pp. 7S, 10-. 
Rojas, Kducicny etc., §15: "El cabello es negro y muy largo, en el cual se 
dan algunos nudos y lazadas en la cabeza, que a su modo parece bien." This 
head-dress is figured on the Indian paintings of the sixteenth century, to which 
I sh;Ul refer hereafter, called .I/.j/ij d^' Cua^uAiAmisincv, and J/i:J>u ti<- CAjIcHAuo-^ 
/itn, both from the district of Cholula. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 123 

The dwellings of the aborigines in the pueblos proper 
deserve careful study. There are several features about them 
of ancient origin, and as I have satisfied myself that, with the 
exception of mounds, remains of architecture which ante- 
date the Conquest have almost completely disappeared, the 
Indian houses of to-day should be the more closely studied in 
order to trace reminiscences of strictly aboriginal times. Even 
in the pueblos there is a difference in construction between 
the houses of the wealthy and those of the poor ; besides, 
there is a marked contrast between those of the Plain and 
those of the Sierra. I must premise by saying that every 
family lives by itself, and that there is no trace of communism, 
so far as shelter is concerned. 

When, on the 23d of March, I presented myself at the 
pueblo of Cuauhtlantzinco, in order to copy certain aboriginal 
paintings there preserved,^ I was not received as I expected, 
I was not even allowed to stay in the pueblo, but an Indian of 
the place, Don Joaquin Tepoztecatl,^ secretly offered me the 

1 These paintings, which are known by the name of Mapa de Ciiatthtlantzhico, 
I wish to call Codice Campos, in order to distinguish them from the old map of 
the pueblo, as well as to do justice to the venerable curate of Cholula, to 
whom we owe their preservation. They are of the highest importance for the 
history of the Conquest of Mexico, and are executed in oil-colors, on European 
paper, filling two wooden frames. By direction of the Padre D. Jose Vicente 
Campos, who discovered the sheets some thirty years ago and saved them from 
decay, they were pasted on cotton sheeting and framed. Each sheet is 0.40 by 
0.30 metre (16 by 12 inches) in size, and contains scenes from the Conquest, — 
not badly executed, — and portraits of aborigines. Each bears a text written in 
Nahuatl, which the Padre Campos translated into Spanish by the aid of the Indians 
themselves, and the translation he has added to the charts. The Indians claim 
that the paintings are of the sixteenth century, and that they were executed by 
one Tepoztecatl. All my endeavors, and those of the venerable priest, to secure 
permission to copy the Alapa utterly failed. The natives actually concealed — 
perhaps buried — the pictures, after having invited me to their pueblo to take a 
copy, and having permitted me to see them for a few moments only. If my sub- 
sequent stay at the pueblo has not been without result, it was against the wish of 
the population, whose stupidity and treachery I wish to place on record here. 

2 To his friendship and aid I owe what little work I could do at Cuauhtlant- 
zinco. He was my only supporter in the midst of a hostile village of 1,400 souls. 



124 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

hospitality of his house, which I at once accepted, and thus 
remained eleven days in the pueblo, much against the will of 
its people. Although at my own request, owing to lack of space 
in his house, I moved the next day into another building 
belonging to him, I was at his home daily, and thus had the 
opportunity of studying two Indian houses of the better class 
in the plain of Cholula. 

Plate X. Fig. 2 gives a diagram of Tepoztecatl's residence ; 
Fig. 3, the main door {ci) ; Figs. 8 and 9, the roof and ceiling. 
It is a rectangle, 23.5 metres {jj feet) long, and only 3.80 
metres (12}^ feet) wide. The height of room, roof included, 
is 4.56 metres (15 feet), of which the roof occupies about 0.75 
metre (2^ feet). The walls, of adobe, have an average thick- 
ness of 0.42 metre (17 inches), which is quite sufficient for a 
one-story building. 

It will be noticed that there are three sections, or rooms, 
respectively lettered I., II., and III. I. is the principal house, 
and its length alone is 11.40 metres {'x^j feet 4 inches). The 
entrance is towards the east, by the large double door id), 
and the floor is raised, so that two steps ascend to the doorsill 
(Fi&- 3)- Around the east and south sides extends a projec- 
tion of red brick. This apartment is the sala, or grand room ; 
and at its southern end stands the family altar, with the image 
of the patron saint. 

Rooms II. and III. are subsequent additions to I. They are 
lower, and the doors {b, c, d) all enter without steps, the floor 
being on the level of the ground outside. II. is used as a 
storeroom, and III. for a kitchen. The whole building has 
not a single window ; in fact, in the whole district of Cholula 
there is not an Indian dwelling with a window in it. The 
wide door furnishes ample light and air, and it is always open, 
except at night and when the family is absent. 

The floor of all three apartments is merely clay; but that 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 125 

of I., being filled up, is firmer and smoother than those of the 
two others. Some Indian houses have their floors paved with 
brick, like those of the houses of Cholula; but these are not 
numerous. In the court, or garden, in front of this building, 
near the northeast corner and the trees marked ce, Joaquin 
and I dug up, at a depth of 0.50 metre (20 inches), fragments 
of a layer of coarse whitish composition, 0.0 1 metre (I of 
an inch) thick, which he called the remnants of an old floor. 
This composition, if originally of Indian origin, does not con- 
tain burnt lime.i I have been told also, that red clay {tlaJmitl, 
— washed with blood), as in the New Mexican pueblos, was 
formerly used for the composition of ground-floors. I give 
this information for what it may be worth. 

While the doorway a is built up of brick and whitewashed, 
the door b has a single slab of lava placed across its top as a 
lintel ; but the doors c and d are much more primitively con- 
structed. Five round sticks of wood, with the bark peeled off, 
are placed above as a lintel, resting on the adobe at both ends, 
and supported besides at each side of the door by a round 
under-post. This very awkward lintel reminded me of a sim- 
ilar one found in the abandoned Cave DwelHngs of the Rito 
de los Frijoles in New Mexico. 

The roof and ceiling are represented in Figs. 8 and 9. The 
joists or timbers {quauhmanil, in Nahuatl) are squared with 
the axe, and laid across, not lengthwise. The splinters {qttauh- 
pixotl), Fig. 9, are placed edgewise. Then follow o. 10 metre 
(4 inches) of earth {tlalli), and finally the impermeable top- 
layer of tenixtl, also o.io metre (4 inches) thick, and now 
composed, I am told, of burnt lime, with fragments of lava 

1 As early as 15S1, the nearest lime-kilns were at Puebla, and in the hands of 
the Spaniards alone. Relacion, etc., § 31 : '" Y la cal de la ciudad de los Angeles 
. . . . de donde traen la piedra, y en hornos que dentro de esta ciudad tienen la 
cuecen." 



126 ARCH.^EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

or pebbles. The earth is firmly pounded down; and then the 
coat of lime is spread over it, and bits of lava are pressed 
into the lime with a pointed stick. The use of burnt lime cer- 
tainly post-dates the Conquest, but as the roofs of ruins — at 
Mitla, for instance — are also capped with a layer of a white 
impermeable substance, which effervesces with acids, the pro- 
bability is that, in aboriginal times, pulverized limestone, 
unburnt, was used for a similar purpose. 

This adobe is made without straw, although this is not the 
general custom. The foundations of the house are of broken 
stone and rubble, for the extent of room I. The other two 
apartments rest with their adobe walls on the ground. In 
former times the Indian of the Plain, like the Pueblo Indian 
of New Mexico, dug a trench about 0.50 metre to 0.75 metre 
(20 to 30 inches) deep, or deeper, until he reached the icpetlatl, 
so as to rest the foundations of his house on that impermeable 
clay ; now, this precaution is rarely taken. 

To the east wall of the house (its front) is joined a partly 
interrupted adobe wall, along whose north side grows a hedge 
of columnar Cereus. There is also an interruption west of 
the point h, which is filled by a row of Cereus. q, q, q, is 
another adobe enclosure, partly decayed. The whole forms a 
fragmentary court in front of the house, 23I/2 by 20.68 metres 
{■jj by 68 feet), which contains the well (/;), the Cereus hedges 
{Hi), and an aJmacate tree {j). 

The eastern wall has the oven {k) for the baking of cala- 
bashes, and the ancient stone cross (/) built against its west 
side (Fig. 7). This court was formerly occupied by buildings, 
but there is no tradition that they were ever used for dwelling 
purposes. Still the cross is said to have rested on a floor, 
now destroyed, which would indicate the former existence of 
a sala there. There are other adobe foundations (IV.), which 
appear like ruined outhouses. The present owner positively 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. I 27 

asserts that the apartment I. was the original home of his 
family, built not less than three centuries ago, when Cuauh- 
tlantzinco was founded.^ He admits that the house has been 
repaired and even improved, but nevertheless insists that the 
size and shape are old, post-dating the Conquest by less than 
half a century. Thus he acknowledges that all brick-work is 
of a later period, that the joists or beams are new, that the 
upper crust of the roof has been replaced, and that the door 
itself, with its wrought-iron hinges, is very recent. Tepozte- 
catl assured me that prior to the Conquest the houses had no 
doors (a fact otherwise confirmed),^ but that soon after a rude 
door was introduced. This was made of rough planks, fas- 
tened together by strips of leather or flexible roots, and was 
opened and shut by a wooden latch inside, drawn up by a fibre. 
It was hung to a round post, swinging in the two stones, 
represented in Fig. 4. The upper stone (Fig. 5) is a thin 
wedge-like slab, 0.32 metre (13 inches) long, and 0.08 metre 
(3 inches) thick, worked out to a ring at one end. This ring 
has an outer diameter of 0.14 metre (nearly 5 inches). The 
lower stone (Fig. 6) is a block nearly square, 0.37 metre (15 
inches) long, 0.27 metre (11 inches) broad, and 0.17 metre 
(7 inches) high, in which a slightly conical hole, 0.08 metre (3 
inches) deep, and 0.12 metre (4 inches) in diameter, has been 
drilled. Thus the doorpost could revolve freely, as the lower 
stone was laid upon the doorsill, and the upper wedged into 

1 The foundation of Cuauhtlantzinco dates back to the time of Cortes, — 
therefore, between 1519 and 1528. I shall allude to it hereafter. The church 
bears a date which is claimed to be 1522, but I read it, 1722. In the Testhnonio 
de la Merced de San Juan Cttaiihtlantzmco, MS., there is a claim of a grant based 
upon a promise on the part of Cortes for assistance rendered to him. I shall 
be more explicit on this point hereafter. 

2 Gomara, Segiinda Parte de la Cronica, etc., p. 440 : " No hay puertas ni ven- 
tanas que cerrar, todo es abierto . . . ." Juan Bautista Pomar, Relacion de la 
Ciicdad de Tezcoco, MS. 1582, xxxi. p. 513 of copy: " No tenian estos aposentos 
puertas sine unas portadas de madera." 



128 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

the adobe above, having the ring protruding. I found both of 
the stones represented in Fig. 8 in the court-yard, and after- 
ward saw them in situ in old churches. These primitive door- 
hinges, even, are therefore a Spanish invention, at the period 
when iron was still scarce in Mexico. 

A ground plan of the house in which I lived at Cuauhtlan- 
tzinco is given in Plate X. Fig. 19. It was also of adobe, 
and its walls are 0.50 metre (20 inches) thick. The size of 
the adobe differs in the building used as the sala (1.), and in 
the part now serving for kitchen, entrance, and storeroom 
(II., III., and IV.), — measuring in the former, in all three 
directions, respectively, 0.55, 0.33, and 0.13 metre (22, 13, 
and 4 inches); in the latter, 0.50, 0.41, and 0.12 metre (20, 
16, and 4 inches). This building is recent, the joists of the 
sala bearing the date of 1796. It was erected for a public 
storehouse, and not for a residence, and the doorway is elabo- 
rately ornamented. In other respects it is similar to the first 
one described, but the wall is still entire, forming an enclosed 
court. 

These two buildings, as I have before remarked, may be 
regarded as fair specimens of the better class of Indian houses 
in the Cholula Plain. A great many appear to have only one 
room ; still there is always a kitchen shed outside, and a little 
outhouse used for storing. 

Beyond the immediate neighborhood of Cholula, towards 
the mountains, we meet with a different style of architecture. 
The flat roof of heavy material is gradually replaced by a steep 
roof of thatch ; and in place of the three rooms, the family lives 
in three distinct and separate houses. 

The thatched roof is either two-sided (Plate X. Fig. 12) or 
four-sided (Fig. 11). In every case it is made of hanks of 
straw, or mountain-grass {sacatl), bound with maguey fibres 
{pita), and fastened on a rude framework of poles, so as to over- 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 129 

lap each other. Not a nail enters into the whole construction. 
These thatch covers are sometimes very heavy, but how far 
they are to be regarded as a native fashion admits of question. 
If they were made of straw only, there would be no doubt 
about their being a Spanish importation ; but sometimes they 
are made of long grass, which certainly grew in the district of 
Cholula prior to the Conquest ; and as they are so much like 
the thatched roofs of the coast, and of Oaxaca, I am in- 
clined to regard them as ancient in shape, if not in material. 
(Plate X. Figs. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.) 

In the Sierra, some of the buildings owned and inhabited 
by Spanish families have the fiat roofs of the Plain, but the 
gable roof is the rule. Sometimes large shingles, fastened by 
two wooden nails, are used, like the clapboards on early houses 
in the western part of the United States. This method of 
covering is rare on the Cholula side, but almost universal in 
the valley of the Chalco ; and I also found it in the eastern 
parts of the State of Puebla, about Tehuacan. 

The building material of the walls in the Sierra is stone 
and wood. The three classes of Indian buildings already 
mentioned are distinct, not only in their uses, but very often 
in the material out of which they are made. These three 
structures are sometimes all in one enclosure ; but they are 
also often scattered, so that two stand on one lot, and the other 
on another. Fig. 10 gives an idea of a group of two. 

The sala [teopcmtzintli, little place of God) is represented 
on the ground-plan by I., of which Fig. 12 gives a gable-end 
view. It is commonly of hewn stone, and the corners are 
formed by upright parallelopipeds. The stones are often laid 
dry, sometimes with a thin coat of adobe clay between, and 
rarely in mortar. The masonry is heavy, but presenting a 
good appearance, and having but one door (Fig. 13), with lintel 
and sill, generally of a single block each. There are no win- 

9 



130 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

dovvs, but merely a small square hole in one of the gable-ends, 
close to the pinnacle. The sala, as in the Plain, contains the 
family altar, and pictures of the Virgin and Saints, has the 
floor of adobe or brick, and no ceiling. 

The kitchen [tczcalli, — house of the one who grinds on the 
metatc) is generally made of upright rough boards or poles, 
bound to an inner frame of posts and laths (Fig. 12), with a 
thatched roof heavier than that of the sala, and often four- 
sided. 

The storehouse {ccncalli, — house of ripe corn) is commonly 
designated by the Spanish word troje, corrupted into tolosha by 
the Indians. While the sala and kitchen are always 'in the 
same grounds, the storehouse frequently stands apart on a 
different lot. It is made of very thick planks, roughly hewn 
and dovetailed at the corners, and stands some 0.90 metre 
(3 feet) above the ground, on four, six, or eight posts or stones. 
The roof is similar to that of the kitchen. In the Plain, I 
have also seen storehouses made of cornstalks, set vertically, 
and tied to an inner frame, or forming a conical hollow stack. 
But such frail structures are temporary, and mostly used for 
maize only. The pueblos of the territory of Huexotzinco, such 
as Santiago Xaltepetlapan and San Simon Tlalnicontla, have 
peculiar contrivances for storing their corn. They are little 
round towers of stone or adobe, always whitewashed outside, 
about 3 metres (9 to 10 feet) high, narrower at the base than 
at the top, with a square air-hole near the roof. This is com- 
posed of boards, and resembles a Chinese hat in form, and can 
be removed at will. It is kept in place by heavy stones laid 
on it, as is the custom in Switzerland. 

Thus it appears that while the inhabitant of the Plain con- 
centrates his rooms within one building, the dweller of the 
Sierra makes of each apartment a distinct house. 

The greater difficulty in constructing large houses of stone 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 131 

than of adobe, may be assigned as the cause of this difference; 
but the chief reason, I believe, may be found in the shape of 
the roof. While it is easy to extend a flat roof over a wide sur- 
face (as the large pueblo houses of New Mexico amply demon- 
strate), or to make long and high sheds, like those used by the 
inhabitants of the South Sea Islands, a gable roof, resting on 
vertical walls, is a much more intricate fabric. When, there- 
fore, the character of the soil rendered the manufacture of 
adobe less desirable, or even impossible, or the abundance of 
wood and stone made their exclusive use as building-materials 
a matter of practical convenience, the pitched roof was adopted. 
Such is the case in the western and southern districts of Cho- 
lula, and all over the Tierra caliente. But as the Indian was 
unable to make the roof large and strong enough to accom- 
modate all his needs under one shelter, he built a separate hut 
for each particular purpose. 

This same feature appears among the sedentary Indians of 
New Mexico. In that country, up to the time of its second 
settlement by the Spaniards, after 1680, the round esUifa 
played an important part in house life. It was the dormitory 
of the men. Women cooked and slept, together with the 
children, in the square cells of the great communal piles. 
The latter also contained apartments specially reserved for 
storage. Now, however, that the family has become better 
constituted, each is a distinct unit ; and consequently, while 
the estufa is at present used exclusively for public purposes, 
each family has three rooms, one for winter, one for summer, 
and one for the stores. In Mexico, where there is no need of 
special regard being paid to climate, the use to which each of 
the three places is devoted is different. 

The sala is seldom inhabited, in a strict sense of the word. 
It is the spare-room, the gala-room, — the place of reception, of 
family worship, of festivals. The kitchen contains the hearth, 



132 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 



the mctlatl, and all the simple apparatus for cooking. Unless 
a stranger is present, meals are taken there; and if that stran- 
ger is not a white man, he also eats in the kitchen. The 
family sleeps sometimes in the kitchen, but frequently in the 
storehouses. Of late, some of the men have begun to make 
use of the sala for the night. There is a curious analogy 
between the present and the ancient cstiifa of New Mexico, in 
that both were used exclusively as places of festive resort and 
quarters for males ; the similarity between the New Mexican and 
the Mexican kitchens and storehouses is also obvious. While 
this would not justify us in tracing relationships, it evidently 
establishes the present division of the Mexican Indian house, 
into three sections, as being a very ancient aboriginal custom. 

The house life of any people stands in direct relation to its 
conceptions about consanguinity and affinity. At the time of 
the Conquest, the power of the kin or gens was still strong 
enough in Mexico to encroach daily upon the family unit,^ but 
this power, in the district of Cholula, has since been completely 
broken, and our system of consanguinity, at least theoretically 
and officially, has been completely adopted. The strenuous 
efforts of the Church to enforce marriage, as understood in 
Europe, bear witness to the protracted struggle between the 
clergy — who could not, at the time of the Conquest, under- 
stand fully the peculiar nature of a system of relationship then 
in a period of transition 2 — and the Indians, who comprehended 

1 Compare my Social Organization and Mode of Goz'ernment of the Ancient 
Mexicans, pp. 567-570, 623-630. Nearly three years have elapsed since that 
essay was written, two of which have been spent in further documentary studies; 
and nearly one has been passed by me among the Indians of Mexico and New 
Mexico. There I lived, not only in their neighborhood, but as they themselves 
do ; and I have found no occasion to change any of the conclusions reached in 
that or any of my previous papers. That these papers are based upon the labors 
of Lewis H. Morgan, I need not state; but I refer principally to Ancient Society 
for a more thorough study of the questions in issue. 

- The conditions of marriage among the Indians were never fully understood 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 133 

Still less the new ideas thrust upon them. In consequence of 
it the kin disappeared, but slowly, and apparently its last vestige 
was the communal tenure of lands. The Laws of Reform 
officially obliterated that last trace of it. Still, there are tokens 
of the former existence of the kin, left in the very bosom of 
the family, in the Indian family-names of the people. 

An old MS. of the year 1555 — written by an interpreter, in 
the Nahuatl language, with European letters, for and in behalf 
of the principal men of Cholula — begins as follows : " We, the 
old men, chiefs and caciques, say that we now put on record 
in writing, that we were the first ones held worthy of receiving 
the grace of God, our Lord Jesus Christ ; and also that it was 
told that the true faith would come, and the holy baptism, 
and that we should be named each one for himself."^ Li the 
early documents, therefore, such as the record of division of 
lands in 1566, about Calpan and adjoining territories, the 
Indians appear with Spanish family-names.^ But already the 
Merced of Cuauhtlantzinco contains Indian personal names in 
the Nahuatl idiom, transformed into regular appellatives. In 
this way Tepoztecatl (cutter of copper) and Xicotencatl (man 

or explained until Mr. Morgan revealed, in his works, the system and termi- 
nology of Indian relationship. The early missionaries have, on that account, 
left very contradictory pictures. But they solved the question by enforcing the 
marriage rules established by the Church, and thus changed both system and 
terminology in Mexico. We may regret this in a certain sense, but cannot attach 
any blam.e to them for so doing. 

1 Testaniento de Capixlahuatzin, MS. This document, originally written in 
Nahuatl, and signed by Fray Martin de Valencia as testifying witness, is the last 
will of Geronimo de Mendoza, whose Indian name is Capixlahuatzin, and who 
was one of the principal men of Cholula at the time of the Conquest. It was 
translated into the Spanish language, and I copied it from the MS. in possession 
of Don Jose Maria Reyes Ramirez, at Cholula. The original may still be in 
existence, though its whereabouts is unknown. It bears date 1555. 

2 I found this document in possession of Don Ignacio Canto, at San Nicolas 
de los Ranchos. It was originally written in Nahuatl ; but I only saw the Span- 
ish translation, which, for the sake of brevity, I will hereafter call Junta de San 
Nicolas. The meeting took place on 12, 13, and 14 October, 1566. 



134 ARCH^OLOGICAL lASTITUTE. 

with a bee at his Hps) became hereditary names. Thus, in the 
sixteenth century, the condition was very similar to that now 
prevaihng in the pueblos of New Mexico, where every Indian 
has his native name, and a Spanish family appellation besides. 
In Mexico, subsequently, the Indian personal name has often 
become his acknowledged family one, and he receives, when 
baptized, a Spanish personal name. Thus, Joaquin Tepozte- 
catl and Santiago Xicontencatl are persons well known to me. 
All this corroborates what has already been stated elsewhere, 
that the Indian, before the Conquest, had only a personal 
name, and that it was the kin, gens, or clan which alone pos- 
sessed a generic appellative. Of such names of kinships, 
traces still remain in the family names of many pueblos 
of Cholula : for example, Cuauhtli (eagle), Tochtli (rabbit), 
Tecuhtli (chief). 

In the designations used for relationships there are no remi- 
niscences left of an older terminology than those which I have 
mentioned in my essay on " Social Organization and Mode of 
Government of the Ancient Mexicans." While a great many 
terms enumerated in that paper still remain in use, they have 
lost the signification which they had before and at the time of 
the Conquest. No other limitations to marriage are now 
known but those established by the Church, which are, offi- 
cially at least, strictly followed. The introduction of civil 
marriage has of late again disturbed marital customs, and 
will tend to obliterate what may have been handed down from 
ancient times. Thus it interferes with the force of parental 
authority. Previous to the first Provincial Council of Mexico, 
held in 1555, it was "the custom among the Indians not to 
marry unless with the license of their principal men, or to 
take a wife unless given by their hand." This custom was 
a consequence of gentilism, and of organization by kin, and 
was done away with by this Council on the ground that 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. I 35 

"matrimony does not enjoy that liberty among free persons 
wliich it sliould have." ^ But to the authority of the Icindred 
succeeded that of the parents on both sides. I was present 
at the pueblo of Coronanco, or Coronango, when the question 
of paternal authority was the subject of an interesting discus- 
sion. Now, in the course of a few years, civil marriage will 
probably do away with the last formal obstacle of this kind. 

It was, and still is, always the young man who sends for the 
young woman ; and, formerly, special envoys were employed for 
that purpose, or the father made such application. In 1581 
the girl was still actually purchased, " so that he who had 
daughters considered himself as richer than he who had 
sons, contrary to the opinion of the Spaniards." The girl 
brought nothing but her clothes, and the bridegroom bore all 
cost of the festival.^ A similar custom still prevails among 
the Indians of the New Mexican pueblos. 

An Indian marriage at Cholula, and in the district, if the 
parties are wealthy, is a protracted festivity. After the bles- 
sing in church, the attendants, headed by the officials of the 
pueblo, all go to the bridegroom's residence, where they are 
treated to chocolate, atollc, and tamales. Thence they go to 
the house of the bride to receive a similar welcome ; then back 
to the bridegroom's house to partake of a formal meal. After- 
wards the whole crowd returns to the home of the bride; and, 
loading themselves with her wearing-apparel, trinkets, the 
meiates, metlapiles, and other cooking utensils, they carry them 

1 Concilios Provinciales, Primero y Segu7ido^ celebrados por la nitty Noble, y nitty 
Leal Ciudad de Mexico. Mexico, 1769. Cap. Ixxii. p. 147. 

2 Relacion de Choltila, MS. § 13: " Hase usado siempre, y se usa hoy, que las 
mugeres casan sin dote alguno, sine el vestido que Uevan encima, y siempre 
demandan ellos a ellas, sin moverse de parte de ella el matrimonio, en el cual el 
novio hace la costa a toda la parentela, y asi se tiene por mas rico y dichoso el 
padre que tiene hijas, que no el que tiene hijos, al revesdelos Espafioles." I was 
also told, and state it for what it may be worth, that it is still customary to send 
two principal men to beg for the girl. Compare Social Organization, p. 620. 



136 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

in formal procession, with the bride herself, to the new home. 
There the young couple sit down under the image of the pat- 
ron saint, and all the attendants take formal leave of them, 
accompanying their greetings with more or less sound advice. 
This was formerly done by an old man in behalf of all, but 
now each one performs it on his own account; so that the 
whole ceremony to this point is not only a long but also a very 
dreary affair. But afterwards, dancing begins to the sound of 
the flute, the psalterio, the bajo, etc. ; pidqite circulates freely; 
and a noisy festival is kept up in the court of the bridegroom's 
residence, sometimes for three days in succession. 

Until the laws abolishing communal tenure of lands in Mex- 
ico were promulgated in 1857, any newly married pair, whose 
parents could not boast of worldly possessions, by applying to 
the authorities of the pueblo, might secure a tract of cultivable 
soil. Although the communal lands are now divided into pri- 
vate possessions, it often happens that when a young couple 
starts in the world the municipal authorities apply to one 
of the richer inhabitants for a parcel, which he donates to the 
new beginners. The original grants of the Spanish govern- 
ment conveyed ample ground to the Indian settlements. The 
original Mejxed to the pueblo of Cholula, dated 27th of Octo- 
bei", 1537, comprises "one legua in every direction from 
their church,"^ or 4 square leguas, equivalent to 17,174 acres, 
nearly three fourths of a township in the State of Illinois. 
To the pueblo of Cuauhtlantzinco 4^ cabalierias were origi- 
nally granted by Merced, confirmed 14 June, 1587,^ to which, in 
1716,^ there were added 4 cabalierias more. As the caballeria 
is equal to \2 fanegas, or about 250 acres, the pueblo possessed 



1 Merced de Cholula, MS. Copy taken from the archives of the city. 

2 Testinionio de la Merced de San Juan Cuauhtlantzmco , MS., accompanied by 
a plat. Copy of both in my possession. 

** Auto de Posesion del Rancho de Jesus Nazareno, MS. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 137 

a communal area of 2,125 acres. The present population is 
1,447 souls. ^ In regard to Cholula, we must not overlook the 
fact that the grant in question also included the pueblo of San 
Andres Cholula. If we add the population of the latter to 
that of the city, and also that of San Rafael Comac,^ the 4 
square leagues now support a population of at least 7,000 souls; 
one inhabitant to 2]/^ acres — and Cuauhtlantzinco, one to 
lyi acres — originally granted. These figures are instructive 
as illustrating, not the density of the Indian population, of 
which they give no correct idea, but the slight needs of the 
aborigines, because of their simple and primitive mode of 
life. 

The simple custom of carrying the bride to her new home, 
together with the grinding-slabs, the pots, pans, and cooking- 
utensils, is not without significance for the house-life of the 
aborigines of Cholula. It is analogous to the custom prac- 
tised before the Conquest, of placing by the side of the 
new-born babe, if a boy, a bow and arrow, if a daughter, a 
spindle-whorl,^ each symbolical of future duties. The woman 
furnishes the kitchen, — her future domain, where she rules 
supreme, doing all the work herself, or with help of young 
sisters, or other women. While I was at Cuauhtlantzinco, 
a young couple with one child, and with the wife's mother, 
moved into the house whose ground-plan is given in Plate 
X. Fig. 19. They slept in the deserted sala, where I also 
had my bed; and during my stay the other apartments — the 
kitchen and the storeroom — were organized. The women 
planted the hearth, for which they dragged loose stones into 
the roofless section (II.), and there they placed the metate; 
and it was only when the young husband returned from work 

^ Ramirez, Estadistica geogrdfica, etc., MS. 

2 Idem. San Rafael was formerly a barrio of San Andres Cholula. 
2 Motolinia, Historia, etc., Trat. i°. cap. v. p. t^-j. Gomara, Segunda Parte, 
etc., p. 43S. 



13S ARCHAEOLOGICAL LXSTITUTE. 

at the railroad that he aiul his brother-in-law brought home a 
load o\ //ui!^-/iry /urveS, wiih which lo make a temi^orary root". 
There is much in this custom, ol the exclusive reservation of 
the kitchen lor the women, like that oi' the New IMexican 
pueblo. There, what comes tront outside the house, as soon 
as it is inside, is jnit under the immediate control ol the 
woman. I\lv host at Cochiti, New Mexico, could not sell an 
car ol corn, tun" a string of r/.'/'/r, without the consent of his 
thirteen-N'car-okl daughter Ignacia, who kept house for her 
widowed t.ilhcr. In (.dudula ilistrict (and }M'obalilv all iivcr 
Mexico") the m.m has acquired more power, and the storehouse 
is no longer controlled by the wile, Init the kitchen remains 
her domain ; and its aboriginal designation, tc:;calH (place, or 
house, o{ her who grindsV is still perlectlv justified. 

An Indian kitchen is a simply furnished apartment. There 
is no stove or range; there are no cupboards, no sink, or table, 
or chairs. In one corner of the jilacc. three upright stones 
are set in the ground ; this is the hearth. The fire is built 
inside of this triangle; and on it rests the coiiiitl, olla (the pot 
or kettle'* for boiling, or the tlat i\';'V..'.'.V'. on which the tortillas 
are baked. l'^\ce(U the ;>u-tatr, and sometimes the pepper- 
mortar, and a tew pots, jars, and pitchers, there are no other 
implements or utensils. 

Indian food in the Cholula district corresponds in plainness 
with the simplicitv of the arrangements of the kitchen. The 
rule is to take but two meals daily, one in the forenoon, from 
7 to 9 A. M., the other in the afternoon, generally before sun- 
set. The diet is almost exclusixclv vegetable. Atollc, — very 
much resembling" liquid corn-starch, sweetened with brown 
sugar, — tortillas, — too well known to need any description, — 
or tamalts, form the bill of fare for breakfast. Taifialcs are 
nothing else but North American mush, sometimes with slices 
of meat and peppers enclosed, and baked in corn-husks. For 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. I 39 

the afternoon meal I have often seen only tortillas and black 
htdins, frijolcs {etl)} More prosperous families fare somewhat 
better ; but the three articles enumerated are always present, 
and no meal would be complete without them. Whenever 
there is any meat, it is generally chicken or turkey. The 
Indian household does not sit around a common table, but the 
members all squat down together on the kitchen floor. Forks 
and knives are not ordinarily used ; and when I spent the night 
of the 3d of August at the pueblo of San Ikrnardino Chalchi- 
huapan,2 gygn the authorities of the village could not find a 
spoon for me to eat my frijo I es with. The Indian is so accus- 
tomed to cat all his food with the tortilla, — ^h\ch he folds in 
such a manner as to form a little scoop, — that fork, knife, and 
spoon are things for which he has no occasion. The tortilla 
has the advantage, besides, that the ladle is eaten with the 
soup, and the washing of dishes afterwards becomes very 
simple. Nevertheless the Indian of Cholula knows how to 
cook better dishes; but some of the ingredients for such 
cookery have to be imported, and therefore they are not 
often seen. 

One of these luxuries is chocolate. Being a white man, — 
however much I might pride myself on my connections with 
Cochiti in New Mexico, — at Cuauhtlantzinco I received my 
cup of chocolate every morning. Sugar belongs to the same 
category, and therefore sweetmeats are rare ; and so is white 
bread. The last-named two articles, of course, have been 
introduced since the Conquest, but chocolate is well known 
to have been an aboriginal beverage. It is still beaten to a 
foam after being boiled, and is served with the froth upon 
it. Little, if any, milk is used, for the Indian is an indiffer- 
ent dairy-man ; in fact, he is almost awkward in his care and 

1 Molina, Vocabula7-ia, etc., i. f. 64; ii. f. 29. 

2 The pueblo has 929 inhabitants. Ramirez, Estadistica, etc., MS. 



140 ARCH^OLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

treatment of domestic animals. The old sister of my host, 
against my repeated formal protests, made me Spanish-lNIexi- 
can dishes in protusion. and cooked many of them very well. 
It is evident that vermicelli soup, boiled rice, cabbage, car- 
rots, potatoes, etc., boiled and served with beef (as pucJicro), 
green peas, even chile relUno (^green cJiilc stuffed with cheese), 
are no more Indian dishes proper, than are pastry or pies, 
for the simple reason that they have no ovens in which to 
bake them. The beehive-shaped hontos of New Mexico are 
unknown in the Cholula district, but they use a small hutch 
of adobe to dry their calabasJics in. The chicken pies, rab- 
bit pies, etc., which they are said to have prepared and 
eaten at the time of the Conquest, were only tanialcs, mush 
mixed with the meat of the animals named. ^ \\'hile, to 
a casual observer, the cookery of the INIexican Indian some- 
times appears much more advanced than that of the New 
INIexican, we must not forget that in such cases the diet is 
always largelv made up of Spanish dishes, only of rare occur- 
rence, while the purely Indian food remains extremely simple, 
even on festive occasions. 

When I was measuring the so-called Pyramid of Cholula, 
special Church festivals were celebrated in the Alexicaltzinco 
quarter of the city. It is customary for the principal men of 
the ward or pueblo, on such ocpasions, to entertain the people 
in the court of one of their houses, and the hijos (sons, — as 
they call them, — or children) never fail to appear in numbers. 
After sunrise they tile into the court and squat down to receive, 
each one, a cup of chocolate and four little loaves of wheat 
bread. After midday they return, and as many as have room 
squat down again in the yard, and the honored proprietor treats 
them to the following bill of fare : vermicelli soup, tortillas, 

1 I refer to Sahagun, I/ist. Gcru-ra!, etc., vol. ii. lib. viii. cap. xiii. pp. ::97-300. 
lie distinguishes, among the himaUs, between sint/!es and mesclados. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 141 

iamalcs, beans, wheat bread, and inolle de guajolote. This is a 
very ancient custom, and the mcniL may be considered a fair 
specimen of ancient Indian high hving, witli vermicelli soup 
and wheat bread as Spanish additions. But the violle is truly 
aboriginal, and consists of stewed turkey seasoned with red 
pepper. All things considered, the food of the Indians of Cho- 
lula is not very different from that of the New Mexican abo- 
rigines, — not even from that of the Iroquois. Apart from the 
chocolate (which is a natural product unobtainable at the 
north), its ingredients are reduced to corn-meal, beans, cala- 
basJics (corresponding to the northern squash), native fowls or 
game, and fruit. The fruit itself was also a foreign importa- 
tion, as long as no pears or peaches were raised, and as plan- 
tains do not grow in the district. The Indians never cooked 
the fruit. My Indian boy from Mexicaltzinco, Sixto Garcia, 
at the end of every week begged a medio {6}^ cents) for fruit 
{para la fnita). The habit of grinding corn well soaked, 
of making out of it thin cakes or mush, of boiling beans and 
calabashes, of broiling and stewing certain kinds of meat, 
forms the substance of the knowledge of cookery which they 
had acquired before the Conquest. The advance they had 
made over the northern Indians is reduced, therefore, to the 
tamales, a composition of mush, meat, pepper, and sometimes 
of fruit like aliuacate, or even the exotic banana, and to a more 
perfect and varied seasoning. This comes from a greater 
abundance of material. Odoriferous and medicinal herbs are 
very common, and many of these are eaten uncooked. Green 
and red pepper, however, always has been the main spice. 
Salt is less used, as it was anciently an object of importation. ^ 
The toi'tillas are always made without salt, but it is sometimes 
strewn over them when eaten ; or slices 0^ almacaie, green chile, 

1 Rojas, Rdacion, etc., MS., § 30: "La sal que en esta ciudad se gasta es de 
las Salinas de Axuchitlan, que es vcinte leguas de aquf . . ." 



142 --/ RCH.SOLOGTCAL IXSTIIVTE. 

etc., are folded or rolled up in the soft elastie tortilla, making; 
new combinations according- to the taste of the eater. 

The preparation of the food is exclusively the woman's 
work, but from its simplicity it does not occupy nuich of her 
time. She has to grind twice a day. — which is her principal 
kitchen-work. — for the tortillas are better hot than cold, and 
the preparation of the dough is immediately followed by its 
toasting on the comal, or platter. If she has a baby, the infant 
— while the mother grinds or cooks — is suspended from the 
kitchen roof in a square wooden box, without a cover, either 
bundled up in a sara/r, or lying naked on it; and when the ur- 
chin cries, the hanging cradle is made to swing by a push of the 
hand. When not cooking or grinding, the woman mends the 
scantv clothing, or does some light work in the field, or man- 
ufactures something for sale at Cholula or Puebla. Wealthier 
people begin to furnish the sala with tables or chairs, but a 
bedstead is still very rare. The IMexican Indians, like those of 
New INIexico, sleep on the floor or on a few boards (tarima), 
wrapped up in or covered by a :;arape. The bed is merely a 
mat {peilatl) ; when the family rises in the morning, the mats 
are rolled up and shoved into a corner. The Indian, when 
travelling on foot, often takes his mat along, as it is an excel- 
lent protection against rain. 

Although the few tables and chairs of an Indian family are 
never found outside of the sala, still I have seen, in the kitch- 
ens, low stools used for seats. They do not resemble, except 
in size, the little three-legged sitting-blocks which I often used 
in New INIexico. ]\Iv host at Cuauhtlantzinco took his meals 
on a small table, roughly made, about 0.60 metre (2 feet) high, 
and he sat by it on a stool proportionately low. Nowhere 
have I seen, however, the scooped-out ic'/>alli which was in use 
at the period of the Conquest, and is still found in the New 
Mexican pueblos. 



STUDIES ABOUT CIIOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 143 

The most conspicuous piece of furniture of the sala is the 
altar. It is frequently only a wooden shelf, supporting an 
image, two little vases with flowers, which are daily renewed, 
and other little trinkets of clay or wood. Above the altar 
there hangs sometimes a large oil-painting of the Virgin, On 
festive days, wax candles are burned before it. There are a 
great many of these large-sized paintings in the State of Pue- 
bla, — some of them not badly executed, — the work of native 
artists.^ I have also seen another decoration, which occa- 
sionally is found in the kitchen. The smaller jars, pots, 
platters, cups, etc., of the household, the painted xicaras of 
Olinallan, are hung very symmetrically upon the wall opposite, 
which is also adorned with flowers. 

In the storerooms or storehouses are kept the maize, cala- 
bashcs, beans, and pepper sufficient to last the family for a 
season. The most important tool is the spade, which is now 
of the North American pattern, although they still have an 
older kind, with a broad blade fastened to a long handle. 

Next to the spade, in importance, comes the machete, now a 
heavy corn-knife, making a truly fearful weapon. Still I have 
not found the machete at Cholula in as common use as in lower 
districts. A long butcher-knife, however, is carried by almost 
every Indian. Pocket-knives are scarce, as the natives seldom 
have pockets, but carry their valuables either in a small leather 
bag beneath the shirt, or, mostly, in the scarf wound round 
their loins. 



1 The progress of art can be traced from original paintings dating from before 
the Conquest, — of which the Cddice Mendocijio, and the Vaticaniis, also the Atc- 
bin, are imitations, — through the large paintings, of which each smaller sheet is 
devoted to a special subject, found in the Cholula district, down to the religious 
pictures after European models. The latter are, I presume, of the seventeenth 
century, and later. Those paintings in the Indian villages, like the Cddice Cam- 
pos, the Mapa de Chalchihuapan, the Mapa de Teaianipan, etc., are an inter- 
mediate stage between the aboriginal and the later pictures. 



144 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

Hoes are not as common as I expected to find them. The 
women sometimes use them in planting beans or calabashes, 
but generally the grains are covered with the foot. Formerly 
the planting was done exclusively in the rising moon. 

The North American axe, the most efficient tool ever in- 
vented for clearing forests, is only now finding its way into 
these parts of Mexico of which I am treating. The narrow, 
thick iron wedge called by that name, a relic of the Old 
World, predominates here. We may wonder that the Mexi- 
cans did not sooner begin to use the broad, thin-bladed imple- 
ment of to-day ; but must not forget that Mexico does not 
furnish such occasion for its use as the United States, and 
that where tropical forests occur, even the great American 
axe is but a useful improvement, and not an absolute relief or 
remedy. It is known that copper axes were used by the 
Indians previous to the Conquest, and Dr. Valentini has 
given some of the forms of such ancient implements in his 
paper on "Mexican Copper Tools." ^ 

Saws and chisels are beginning to be introduced, but all 
implements of iron, of whatever kind, must alwa\^s be con- 
sidered as Spanish importations, or, at best, as improvements 
with change of material upon a very imperfect aboriginal 
model. 

Most of the out-door labor devolves upon the men. The 
Indian is an early riser, starting regularly for work in the fields 
at from four to five o'clock in the morning, rarely as late as 
six, and taking his tortillas, etc. with him in the zarape; and he 
works till three or four in the afternoon, but sometimes only 
till noon.2 

He tills the soil either as a day-laborer or as proprietor 
to a certain extent, but he also appears in the capacity of a 

1 Proceedings of the Americaii Antiquarian Society, April 30, 1S79. 
- His daily wages are: as farm-laborer, 25 to 31^ cents; as railroad-hand, 
50 cents per day. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 145 

renter ; but as the plots of ground worked by him are small, 
the crops raised are in proportion. Still, as provisions are not 
stored for more than one season in advance, enough is left that 
may be sold. 

Little traffic takes place between individuals at their homes. 
The custom of doing everything in common, that does not per- 
tain strictly to domestic life, is so deeply rooted that the Indian 
and his wife will travel to market with a small load of any 
sort of produce strapped to their backs, or saddled on their 
donkeys. These rudimentary markets are held in almost 
every pueblo ; but a regular one is only met with in the city of 
Cholula, in which every kind of object is sold, such as pottery, 
portable clay stoves, ropes, flowers, trinkets, cotton goods, 
etc. Maize, wheat, barley, beans, etc., are also sold here ; 
and the old custom still prevails for a government official (the 
Secretario del Ayiintainientd) to furnish the measures, and from 
time to time to circulate among the crowd to watch that no 
abuse is committed.^ This gives a very clear insight into 
what the aboriginal fairs were at the time of the Conquest, 
and reduces the exuberant description of the daily markets at 
Tenuchtitlan to a sober level.^ 



1 This custom is related by Cortes, Carta Segimda, p. 32 : " Hay en esta gran 
plaza una buena casa como de audiencia, donde estan siempre sentados diez 6 
doce personas, que son jueces y libran todos los cases y cosas que en el dicho 
mercado acaecen, y mandan castigar los delincuentes. Hay en la dicha plaza 
otras personas que andan continue entre la gente mirando lo que se vende y Ir.s 
medidas con que miden lo que venden, y se ha visto quebrar alguna que estaba 
falsa." Bernal D'y&z, Historia Verdadera, etc., cap. xcii. p. 89: "Ytenian alli 
sus casos, donde juzgaban tres juezes y otro como alguaciles ejecutores que mi- 
raban las mercaderfas." This relates to the old pueblo of Mexico, but the mar- 
ket of Cholula forcibly recalled the picture. Cortes also says that they had no 
weights ! In some pueblos, it is still the custom in many iiejidas to use round 
stones for weights, approximating quantity by pebbles. 

2 Cortes, Carta Segunda, p. 32, speaks of streets [calles) where certain articles 
were sold at Tenuchtitlan. These streets are only the rows of people sitting or 
squatting in the market-places, between whom the buyers circulate. Those who 

10 



146 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

It is not always the case that both man and wife go to mar- 
ket together. But there is not, in the Mexican Indian house- 
hold, that coarse division of rights and duties peculiar to other 
tribes of aborigines. While certain branches of labor still per- 
tain exclusively to the woman, who does not receive from the 
other sex the help regarded among ourselves as natural, yet 
she has become, since the Conquest, enough emancipated 
to be the companion of man, and not any more his chief tool 
and first chattel.^ This is seen also in marital life. Perfect 
equality in social standing has taken the place of a shy relega- 
tion of the woman to the kitchen and dormitory. The enforce- 
ment of strict monogamy by the Church has officially had a 
powerful influence. I am sorry to be compelled to insist upon 
the term ojficial, for in practice, I heard great complaints 
about looseness in intercourse. But even such looseness is 
seldom accompanied by brutal treatment of the weaker by the 
stronger sex. It is not the cold indifference of the New- 
Mexican Pueblch Indian, who, while his wife and daughter freely 
mingle in social gatherings on a footing of equahty with him- 
self, yet pays little attention to them when they are stricken 
down by sickness. The Indian of Cholula is not ostensibly 
tender, but he cares for his wife in her hours of need. 

There is marked progress to be seen, for instance, since the 
Conquest, in the manner of attending to woman while in child- 
birth. Then the attendants on women were females, and there 
was not the care of a loving husband, equally anxious to pre- 
serve his wife and her child, but only that of the kin, desirous 
of increasing their numbers by seeing the offspring safely 
brought into the world. What became of the mother after- 
sell the same things generally place themselves in the same row. The portales 
and booths are very simple contrivances, in which a mantle (qiiachtli) plays the 
chief part. 

1 Social Organization and Mode of Govei-nvient, pp. 609-613. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 147 

wards was of minor importance. Therefore, whenever any 
birth was exceedingly difficult, and when even the most brutal 
remedies were of no avail, the suffering mother was left to die 
alone.^ Such cruelties are not any longer committed. 

The child is left solely to the mother's care ; and there is no 
longer that separation by sexes, practised before the Conquest, 
which placed the boy, as soon as he was able to strike a blow, 
and to carry anything, under the exclusive control of the kin, 
in order to make a man out of him.^ 

In aboriginal times, both sexes kept rather aloof from each 
other in everything connected with rejoicings. While unmar- 
ried, the women gathered sometimes jointly with the men in 
the cuicalli (house of the song),^ but this has a suspicious 
analogy with the New Mexican cachina. In general, dancing 
was an entirely different thing then from what it is now. It 
was not so much a pastime as a religious ceremony, and 
women, as minors, played but a very subordinate role. I have 
not been able to find any aboriginal dances in the whole Cho- 

1 Sahagun, Historia General, etc., vol. ii. lib. vi. cap. xxix. p. 1S6 : " Y si por 
Ventura los padres de la paciente no permitian que despedazase la criatura, la 
partera la cerraba muy bien la puerta de la camara donde estaba ; y la dejaba 
sola; y si esta moria de parto llamabanla mocioaquezque, que quiere decir 
muger valiente." 

2 Compare the well-known pictures of the Cod'ice Mendocino, Plates Iviii. to 
Ixii. inclusive : also, Art of War and Mode of Warfare, pp. 100 and lOl, and 
Social Organization, etc., pp. 616-618. 

3 Sahc-gun, Historia General, etc., lib. viii. cap. xvii. p. 305: "Y cada dia a la 
puesta del sol, tenian por costumbre de ir desnudos a la dicha casa de cuicalli, 
para cantar y bailar." This custom of dancing naked recalls forcibly the Cachinas 
of New Mexico. The matter is placed in a worse light by Tezozomoc, Cronica, 
etc., cap. xviii. p. 27S: "A demandarles sus hijas y hermanas para que canten 
en el lugar de los cantares, de dia y de noche que llaman cuicuyan." lb., pp. 
279, 280 : " Asi mismo habia casa de canto de mugeres que cantaban y bailaban, 
y aun se hacia alii gran ofensa a Nuestro-Seiior, que comenzando el canto v baile 
y como era de noche, y los maesos estaban bebiendo y ellas tambien, venian des- 
pues al efecto con actos carnales, y disoluciones, que morian las mugeres por no 
dejar este vicio y pecado ; llaman a esta tal caca cuicoyan, 6 alegria grande de 
las mugeres." 



148 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

lula district, unless it be at Santiago Xalitzintla. There, as I 
was told, in the month of July a Church festival is celebrated, 
and during the day masked Indians appear in the plus a, shout- 
ing like Apaches. (The term Apache, in the interior of 
Mexico, is synonymous with anything wild or fierce.) On 
the day of the Carnival a dance is performed which they call 
huehueiqtie {old or ancient). I did not happen to see it, but 
was told that there is, as in New Mexico, a female solo 
dancer, called the malinche. This would militate against the 
assumption of its being aboriginal. The malinche wears no 
head-dress, as in Cochiti ; she dresses in an embroidered white 
skirt and chemise, and, while the other dancers are all masked, 
she has her face bare, and one of her performances consists in 
making a doll bounce on a reboso. This feat is not new, as 
appears by the following extract translated from Father Ber- 
nardino Ribeira, called Sahagun : " The necromancer before 
mentioned performed another trick. He sat down in the 
market of Tianquiztli, calling himself Tlacavepan, or also 
Acexcoch, and caused a very small boy {im muchacJmeld) to 
dance on the palm of his hand." The historian is alluding, 
not to what occurred at his time, but to a very old tradi- 
tion.^ But I certainly do not draw the conclusion on account 
of it that the doings of the malinche are only reminiscences 
of a long-gone past, any more than I should feel justified in 
connecting the toy-monkeys sold in the streets of Mexico and 
elsewhere, climbing up or riding along a string, with the doll 
dancing on the malinche's reboso. Still there is an undisputa- 
ble analogy between these things. 

The other dances generally performed are exclusively Span- 
ish, or at least so mixed that the Indian element is hard to 
discriminate. The Tlaxcaltcco'^ bears an aboriginal name, 

1 Historia General, etc., lib. iii. cap. ix. pp. 252, 253. 

2 This custom of naming the dances after tribes is ancient Thus Sahag 



un. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 149 

but has a decidedly Spanish music. The Mexicano and the 
Poblano are what their names indicate ; so is the Jarabe. The 
latter is generally danced by one or two pairs, sometimes on a 
low platform of boards, in order to produce a rattling noise. 
The name forcibly recalls the Haravies of Peru.^ Jarabe, in 
Spanish, signifies syrup. I shall not venture a definition of the 
word designating the dance, but it is certainly not Nahuatl. 

The music or tune of these dances is rendered in a precise, 
correct, and expressive manner by the aborigines. Three 
classes of musical instruments are found in the district : — 

1. Modern ones, of European invention and importation, or 
manufactured in Mexico. 

2. Ancient types still in use and often of recent construc- 
tion, 

3. Old aboriginal instruments, now disused but still pre- 
served as relics. 

To the latter may be added the clay flutes and the perfo- 
rated conch-shells, still occasionally met with about the Great 
Pyramid, 

I have found many Indians capable of writing music, but 
while I offered liberal pay, could not induce them to copy for 
me a single piece. The songs of the pueblos of New Mexico 
are, like those of the northern Indians in general, a mixture 
of monotonous recitative and rhythmic whoops, without any 
pretension to either harmony or melody. But the Mexican 
Indian, while playing a song with pleasing accuracy, and even 
with feeling, on one of his instruments, will at the same 
time scream it in the most atrocious manner, 

Historia, lib. viii. cap. xx. pp. 30S, 309, mentions the Uexotzincaiiitl, or the Ana- 
oacaiutl, and the Cuextecaiiitl, etc. 

^ The Haravies, or Haraviais, of the Ynca, but it evidently designates a singer. 
Garcilasso de la Vega, Histoire des Yncas rois du Peroic (a French translation by 
Baudouin of the celebrated Comentarios Reales), 1704, lib. ii. cap. xxvii. pp. 216- 
218. It has been, like everything else relating to the Indians, greatly expanded 
and correspondingly distorted. 



150 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

The musical instruments which, while still in use in Mexico, 
are known to antedate the Conquest, are but three in number, 
one of which is already falling into oblivion. It is the tozacatl 
(sounding'-cane), described to me as a long cane, bent round 
like an Alpine horn. I never saw one, but its sound is said 
to be a sonorous bellowing. The other is the cJiirimia. It is 
made of dark brown wood, called tepeJmojc, brought to Cho- 
lula from Matamoros-Yzucar, or near Atlixco. Its length is 
0.46 metre (about 18 inches), and its width at the mouth is 
0.06 metre (about 3 inches). It has eleven holes, irregularly 
arranged, and the mouthpiece is a thin plate of horn on a 
stem of brass. The noise produced by this instrument is 
a fit accompaniment to the shrill Indian voices, being horri- 
ble beyond all description. Nevertheless, the aborigines play 
it rhythmically very well, and feel as pleased with its heart- 
rending shrieks as with the softest and most silvery tones of 
a flute. The name cJiirirnia is Spanish, and signifies haut- 
boy. But, while the present wooden instrument is evidently 
only the Spanish (or European) hautboy, there is a still older 
type, made of clay, occasionally exhumed about Cholula, much 
smaller than the chirimia, to whose affinity with the older 
type is due the hold it has preserved on the affections of the 
natives. The cJiirimia is the most popular Indian noise-maker, 
together with the big drum, or tlapan-Jmelmetl, erroneously 
called teponaztli. It is a hollow drum, three-legged, made like 
a cylindrical barrel, with staves firmly jointed and glued, and 
covered at the upper end with a piece of tanned leather. 
The usual height of this is 0.76 metre (30 inches) ; its di- 
ameter 0.45 metre (18 inches); the legs are 0.07 metre (3 
inches) high ; and the thickness of the wood, which is pine, is 
0.02 metre (0.8 of an inch). -It is beaten with two drum-sticks 
{tlaxixtli) 0.34 metre (14 inches) long, having an eUiptical 
head covered with deer-skin. I have seen larger examples, 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 151 

but never smaller. The one copied was rather newly made, 
but the instrument is well known to have been in existence at 
the time of the Conquest. It is interesting to compare its pres- 
ent shape with the pictures found in older paintings. Thus, 

a, Plate XI. Fig. 4, is copied from Fray Diego Duran ; ' 

b, from the Codice Aubin.^ Duran, as well as Tobar, de- 
picts the tlapan-huehnetl as beaten with the hands, and it was 
formerly made out of the trunk of a tree properly hollowed, 
over which, at one end, a deer-skin or some other dried hide 
was stretched. All the older authors make more or less men- 
tion of this instrument, but more particularly Bernal Diez de 
Castillo, who says, when describing the upper platform of the 
principal mounds of worship of Mexico, " And there they had 
an exceedingly large drum, which, when beaten, gave a sound 
as if from the infernal regions, which was heard at more than 
two leagues off, and they said that the skin was that of large 
snakes."^ I can testify to the fact, that, in the dry and thin 
atmosphere, the beating of the tlapan-huehuetl is heard at 
surprisingly great distances. 

This drum was exclusively employed for religious purposes, 
among which I include the dances. Every festival day the 
instrument is placed in front of the church, and is beaten at 
intervals for hours, the noise made being very similar to that 
produced by beating carpets. 

The majority of the people call the big drum tepoiiaztle. 
This is a mistake, as the latter is almost the only representa- 
tive of the third class of musical instruments enumerated ; 
those which, although they have been in use after the Con- 
quest, are now abandoned, and are only preserved as relics of 
days long gone by. 

The true ieponaztle, represented on Plate XI. Fig. 5, repre- 

^ Lam. ig, cap. iiv. vol. i. 2 Page 81. 

^ Hist. Vcrdadera, etc., cap. xcii. pp. 90, 91. 



*I5- ARCH.-EOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

scnts a plain instrument which I found in possession of Don 
Antonio Canto, at the pueblo of Calpan. The two tongues 
(Figs, a and b) are each beaten with a little stick, and the 
vibrations produce two difterent sounds, which, on account of 
the hardness of the wood, have even something metallic in 
their tones. In the Calpan instrument, a has the higher, 
b the lower tone, and it will be noticed that a is indeed 
0.005 nietre shorter than b. There seems to have been no 
thought taken in regard to the thickness of the tongues them- 
sehes, and the whole work shows that acoustics among the 
Mexican Indians were on no higher level than the other 
branches of knowledge. It is evident that the tifonaztlc was 
beaten while in a horizontal position. Not only ilo we have 
written statements to that effect, but Fig. 6, Plate XL, 
taken from the work of Duran,^ gives an idea of how the 
larger instruments of this sort were supported. But I also 
saw, in possession of Sr. A. Chavero, a smaller teponastli, 
which had evidently been suspended to the neck of the player. 
According to some authors, this little drum was used in battle 
by the war-captain, for the purpose of gixing signals. 

Among the relics of former times which are sometimes 
exhumed at or about Cholula, there occur other musical instru- 
ments now altogether disused, but which I shall mention again 
hereafter. Such are conch-shells, some of which I have seen 
of very large size, and with a number of holes in their lower 
volute, of which a specimen is now in the Teabody ]\Iuseum, 
as also a small clay whistle or flute. 

While passing once, in the month of July, through the pue- 
blo of Santiago INIomozpa, near Cholula, I witnessed a singu- 
lar celebration. In front of the church most of the mo:;os, or 
able-bodied men, of the village were congregated, and a kind 
of military rehearsal was going on under the leadership of one 

1 Lam. 19, cap. liv. vol. i. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 153 

of their principal men. I could not regard the whole festivity 
as anything else than a comical drill, — a burlesque; still it 
forcibly recalled to me la funcion del caballito, so popular 
among the New Mexican pueblos. It is evidently of Spanish 
origin, and it may be a relic of the dramatic performances 
which were introduced by the Spaniards among the Indians, 
after the Conquest, to promote their education. 

There is a peculiar attraction in the study of such customs 
as these. The festivals of the aborigines in the district of 
Cholula reveal a double organization, based upon different 
principles, for their civil affairs, and for their church matters. 

I have already related the custom of the principales of the 
pueblo or barrio feasting the people on certain days. Upon 
inquiring into the nature of the dignity of principal man, I 
vvas told a different tale from that related in New Mexico. 
There, any one who has once been elected to the dignity of 
governor, or war-captain, is thenceforward regarded as be- 
longing to ihQ principales ; here, one becomes 2i principal radiW 
through his connection with the Church. Rich people who 
bind themselves to work for the Church become principals. 
This is the concise definition which the Indians themselves 
have given to me of that office. It is evidently not hered- 
itary, and looks very much like an ancient custom, a relic of 
primitive social organization which passed into church usa- 
ges. These, who become principal men through merit, with- 
out thereby gaining any other benefit than that of reputation, 
are the last echo of the icqnihna, the cnanhchiinccs, the otomies 
of the tribes before the Conquest.^ After that event, the war 
titles were taken away from the people, because only the hab- 
its of peace were allowed ; but the custom remained of confer- 
ring honorary titles as a sole reward of merit, and the Church 
became the channel through which they could be obtained. 

^ Art of War and Mode of Warfare, p. 1 17. This title also corresponds to the 
Tecutli, or common chief. Social Organization, etc., pp. 641-643. 



154 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXST/T(/7'E. 

The military organization of the natives fell into gradual 
disuse after the Conquest through its having beeome super- 
fluous. Outside enemies did not affect the centre, and the 
tribes of the centre were no longer allowed to make war upon 
each other. Still there existed, as late as 1587, a war-captain 
{capitan dc la giicrnA of Cholula. That officer was at the 
same time alcalde (justice).^ It is probable that, under the 
influence of two centuries of constant peace, the latter office 
prevailed, and the war-captain completely disappeared. When 
the uprisings against Spain began, in iSio, the primitive 
organization had been forgotten, and at that time, and ever 
since, the modern system of recruiting and volunteering has 
prevailed. 

The blending of military offices with those of a judicial 
and executive character, though originally peculiar to Indian 
organization in Mexico, is shown to be still in existence in a 
document of the year 1566. That paper, which is an act 
of division of lands between the settlements scattered along 
the eastern base of the volcanoes, mentions the butcher {ti 
carniccroY^ as the officer to whom the publication or promulga- 
tion of a certain meeting's resolutions was intrusted. That 
officer was evidently the " cutter of men " {tlacaiecatl), or one 
of the chief war-captains. 

While such titles as were of a military nature have of course 
disappeared, there are still relics left of aboriginal designations 
among the present civil officers of the pueblos. Thus, the 
officers and /^rificifalis are called in general tiachcauh. Else- 
where I have stated that this term, which means elder brother,^ 
was formcrlv used to designate the military leaders of the cal- 
puUi, or localized kins. The constables, or algnazils, bear the 

1 Mcrci-d ./<• Cuauhtlantziiia\ MS. " Domingo Gonzalez, Alcalde Mayor y 
Capitan de hi Guerra de la Provincia de Cholula." 
- ymtta df San Nicolas, etc., MS. 
=' .//■/ of War, etc., p. 119. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 155 

native title of topiles {topilli, staff-bearers), from the staffs of 
office (often silvcr-headccl) whicli tliey carry. But they are 
also sometimes called teopixqui} 

It becomes interesting to compare the character of the 
present Indian with the description of him at the time of the 
Conquest. It has been insisted that a strong contrast then 
existed between the quietness of the native in daily inter- 
course, and his ferocity in warfare and in religious sacrifice. 
I have elsewhere explained that this contrast is merely appar- 
ent.2 The Indian now is generally polite ; that is, he uses, 
after the Spanish fashion, forms of outward politeness to keep 
you at a distance ; but he is frank only in church matters, and 
wherever he is perfectly convinced that no possible harm may 
result to him from such frankness. In everything pertaining 
to his private affairs he is extremely reticent, and sometimes 
will hardly speak with sincerity even to the priest. The same 
thing is true in regard to the affairs of his pueblo. Never 
could I induce any one of the various municipal authorities to 
show me the original grants of their lands. In some places 
they refused ; in others they promised, but kept on promising 
till it was too late, and I could stay no longer. Then I was 
bowed out with many professions of deepest regret at not 
having attained my object. 

The difficulty attending the consultation of any documents 
in the hands of Indians is universal, and results from their 
superstitious regard for writings on paper, and consequently 
their overestimate of the value of such writings. Although 
a great many Indians can read and write, and the municipal 
authorities themselves would be disposed to favor the request 
of a well-recommended student to pursue his researches among 
the archives, the bulk of the people watch with the utmost 

1 The word Topilli is also old. Teopixqui means "messenger of God." 
" Social Organization, etc., p. 624. 



156 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

jealousy over their old papers. It is true, that from the time 
of the Conquest down, the importance of clinging to the titles 
which they received from the Spanish crown, as a defence 
against encroachments by private settlers, was constantly im- 
pressed upon the minds of the Indians by the clergy as well 
as by honest government officials, so that finally an almost 
superstitious importance was given not so much to the con- 
tents as to the paper itself. But the reluctance with which 
the Indian permits even a copy to be taken in his own pres- 
ence has at its bottom an older idea ; that is, the fear lest the 
power vested in the original may be taken away and trans- 
ferred to the copy, and that the latter may become a weapon 
against the owner. This is a very old superstition, which I 
found existing to a still stronger degree among the New Mex- 
ican pueblos. I do not hesitate to regard it — though it is of 
course found in many other countries and on other continents 
— as having existed, under some different shape, in Mexico 
before the Conquest, and as having been since strengthened 
by the importance which became attached to written docu- 
ments, and to their possession. 

If it is not without difficulty that we can succeed in sepa- 
rating the relics of aboriginal times at Cholula from those 
which post-date the Conquest, in the matter of customs and 
house life, this becomes equally difficult in that of popular 
superstitions. I have already mentioned the secret worship 
of stone statues in the caves co'ntained in the crest that runs 
from the Popoca-tapetl northward to the Yztac-cihuatl. A 
similar cult is observed in the monte of the great volcano, on 
its southeastern slope. The Indian selects All-Saints day for 
his purpose, and spreads before one of his uncouth statues a 
mat, on which he places a bottle of pulque or aguardiente, some 
tortillas, and paper. My informants could not state whether 
the paper is burnt or not. This custom, though it savors some- 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 157 

what of antiquity, still bears the stamp of a Church ceremony 
carried to excess, and consequently prohibited and still prac- 
tised in secret. There is, at all events, a mixture of the two, 
and it becomes very difficult to determine how much of it 
belongs to one, and how much to the other. Even the use of 
copal for incense on such occasions is not strictly evidence of 
an aboriginal practice. There is more of this to be seen in 
the usages which are still sometimes observed at burials. If 
they think the officiating priest does not notice, the mother 
will hide a little jar with human milk or tortillas in the grave 
of her child, and, if questioned, she will confess that she 
believes the soul needs some nourishment until it reaches 
heaven.^ 

To discriminate between ancient and modern ideas in 
regard to spectral apparitions and witchcraft is also a very 
intricate task. I am inclined to believe, however, that the 
phantom of the "dead man " (Miquiztli), whose nocturnal sobs 
they occasionally profess to hear, antedates the Conquest, 
and is in fact the " white woman " (Yztaccihuatl, or Cihua- 
cohuatl, of many authors), also called the "weeper" (Llorona, 
Spanish).^ But the belief in witches has a great many points 
of resemblance also to the tales circulating throughout Eu- 
rope in the seventeenth century. There is much more of a 

1 Not only is this done, but if the deceased be a girl, a rod ("vara de mem- 
brillo") IS placed by the body, that she may defend herself from the monsters 
which threaten her on the road to paradise. That this is an old pagan custom 
is seeii from Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., lib. xiii. cap. xlvii. p. 527. 

2 Sahagun, ^z>i'(7r/fl, etc., lib. v. cap. xiii. p. 17: " Otra manera de fantasma 
aparecia de noche, que era como un difunto tendido, amortajado, y estaba que- 
jindose y gimiendo." Id., lib. xii. cap. i. p. 4 : "La sesta, senal, 6 pronostico 
fue, que se oyo de noche en el aire una voz de una muger que decia : O hijos 
mios, ya nos perdemos ! algunas veces decia : O hijos mios, adonde os llevare .' " 
Tezozomoc, Cronka, etc., cap. cvi. p. 6S2 : " Y que tengan gran cuenta de oir 
de noche, si anda la mujer que llama el vulgo Cihuacohuatl, y que es lo que 
llora." — Torquemada, Motiarchia, etc., lib. vi. cap. xxxi. p. 61. 



158 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

purely aboriginal character in some of their ideas about sorcer- 
ers which still exist. The same stories about their changing 
themselves into animal forms at pleasure, which are found 
in the older authors on Mexico, still circulate now. But the 
sorcerer is especially the medicine-man of the natives. Rarely 
does an Indian apply to a regular physician, unless in excep- 
tional or in surgical cases. For ordinary diseases he cures 
himself with the juice of one of the numerous medicinal 
plants growing about his home, which the medicine-man 
gathers and prepares for him, or which he may prepare him- 
self. Even for a snake-bite (which is of rare occurrence), the 
old method of pricking about the wound with an awl made of 
deer prongs is still sometimes used. Not only the medicine- 
man or sorcerer, but a large proportion of the medicines used, 
are relics of aboriginal times. 

The native method of curing disease has been transmitted 
by means of a structure to be found in almost every village. 
Frequently there are even several in one and the same pueblo. 
This is the vapor-bath (Temazcalli), the side-view and ground- 
plan of one of which (now at the pueblo of San Bernardino 
Chalchihuapan) are given in Figs. 2 and 3 of Plate XI. 
The arrangements of the bath are evident from the plan. 
After the water in the jar at a has been boiling and steaming 
for some time, the patient enters the cupola through the pas- 
sage, which afterwards is partially closed, so as to admit a 
sufficient supply of air with the steam. From time to time 
bowls of steaming water are handed in to the bather. In this 
vapor-bath sometimes twelve hours are spent, to which there 
generally succeeds an immersion in cold water. The Temazcalli 
is therefore used not only for cleanliness, but also for skin 
diseases, to which, for various reasons, the Indians are greatly 
subject. The Mexican Temazcalli is at present constructed 
of stone or of burnt brick, but I have also seen it of adobe ; 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 159 

but nowhere could I find an example which gave any clue to 
the shape of this " sweat-house " at the time of the Conquest. 
I saw a representation of one on an Indian painting of the 
sixteenth century at Cuauhtlantzinco, but was not allowed to 
copy it. From its analogy, however, to the " sweat-house " 
for men among more northern tribes, I should infer that its 
shape was like that, but probably less convex, and made of 
different material. At all events, the Temazcalli is per- 
haps the only vestige of an architectural character in the 
district of Cholula which still recalls both the house life 
and medical practices of the aborigines at the time of the 
Conquest. 

In the foregoing sketch of some of the manners and cus- 
toms of the aborigines of Cholula I have endeavored to show, 
in every instance, not only their present condition, but also 
what part of that condition may be the result of foreign 
influence since the Conquest, and at the same time of natural 
progress, leaving in many instances certain features which 
can be applied to the reconstruction of aboriginal life as it 
was when the Spaniards first saw it in 15 19. I cannot lay 
claim to a full reconstruction of every feature of the district, 
but will at least attempt to give a general idea of what abo- 
riginal Cholula really was. 

There can be no doubt that the plain of Cholula, at the 
time of the Conquest, was occupied by a tribe of Nahuatl- 
speakmg village Indians, which was not only autonomous, but 
absolutely independent. It was not subject to pay tribute to 
any other group of aborigines, and had no permanent alli- 
ances obliging it to assist neighbors. 

The territory held by the tribe had no definite boundary 
except to the north, where, for an extent of about twelve 
kilometres (seven miles) the Rio Atoyac formed a dividing 
line between Cholula at the south and Tlaxcala in the north. 



l6o ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

In the west the ranges of Huexotzinco and Chokila met, run- 
ning parallel to each other to the south-southwest into the 
pleasant valley of Atlixco/ where both terminated; and the 
southern limit was equally indefinite. It is probable, how- 
ever, that the present Rio de los Molinos was another of 
these natural boundaries, but not the Rio Atoyac in the east. 
The unoccupied region on which Puebla now stands was 
regarded as belonging to the tribe of Cholula, and the east- 
ern portions of its territory extended even still farther. The 
" range " (for territory or domain it cannot be properly 
called) of Cholula, therefore, touched the range of Tlaxcala in 
the north, that of Huexotzinco in the west, Quauhquechollan, 
or Atlixco, in the southwest, waste lands in the south, and 
in the southeast Teccahi and Tecamachalco. The situa- 
tion of Cholula was an almost ideal tribal area, with its con- 
fines in the south and east completely uninhabited, while the 
central and northern parts formed the inhabited sections. 

We have no definite statement concerning the numbers of 
population. The descriptions of the conquerors cannot be 
taken as facts, only as the expression of feelings, honestly 
entertained, but uncritical. The most circumstantial of the 



1 Besides the fact, that Calpan and .S. Nicolas de los Ranchos belonged until 
within a few years to Hue.xotzineo, we have documentary proof from the " Ar- 
chive General " : — 

Vol. iii. fol. 353. Pcticion dc los Indios de CJiolitla, for land in Atlixco. 1551- 

Vol. XV. fol. i-S. Alerced a yuan del Castillo, proving that the Range of Cal- 
pan extended to the road from Cuaco to San Baltasar. 15S9. 

Vol. xxii. fol. III. Merced a Antonio Ordaz. The "ranchos" of Santiago 
and .S. Nicolas " en terminos del pueblo de Calpa." 

Vol. xxiii. fol. 128. Merced a Benito Sandianior, "en terminos de la ciudad 
de Cholula cerca del pueblo de San Buenaventura subjecto al pueblo de Cal- 
pan." This is very positive. 

Vol. xxiii. fol. 171. Merced a Juan Centcllas. In the district of Calpan, "en el 
pago de San Benito." 

All these data, and others which I forbear quoting here, are positive enough to 
warrant my construction of the map of Cholula in 1519. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. i6l 

eye-witnesses of the Conquest, in regard to Cholula, is Bernal 

Diez cle Castillo, and his statements are very valuable. After 

the Spaniards left Tlaxcala, they reached the banks of the 

Rio Atoyac on the same day, and encamped for the nioht. 

The place is so described that I was able to recognize it as 

due north of the pueblo of Xoxtla in the municipality of 

Coronanco. The distance from Cholula is not quite three 

and a half leagues in a straight line (15 kilometres — 9 miles), 

but Bernal Diez says it was "more than a small league" 

{pbra de una Icgiia chica) from it.^ This would place the 

outskirts of Cholula very near the present pueblo of Santa 

Maria Coronanco. That a settlement existed on that site 

is shown by several proofs. 

1. Tradition, current over the district, that the pueblo of 
Coronanco was in existence there before and at the time of 
the Conquest. 

2. Fragments of pottery together with obsidian, scattered 
in quantities through and around the village. 

What Bernal Diez took for the outskirts of Cholula was 
only a village belonging to the tribe, perhaps the most north- 
ern one, but of this I am not positive. Between Coronanco 
and Cholula itself, however, there was no connected settle- 
ment,— only one place, near Santa Barbara Almaloya, show- 
ing traces of aboriginal fragments antedating the Conquest. 
Bernal Diez himself, in accordance with the other eye-wit- 
nesses, gives the best proof of this by stating that the Tlax- 
caltecos who accompanied Cortes were, at the request of 
those of Cholula, left encamped in the field {en los campos) 
at less than two hours' march from the centre of that place, 
or between it and the site of Coronanco.^ In that direction' 

^ Historia Verdadc7-a, etc., cap. Ixxxii. p. -jt^. 

'^ Ibid., cap. lx.x.viii. p. 77. Andres de Tapia, Rdado7i, etc., p. 573. 



1 62 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

therefore, the population of the range was not so considerable 
in 1 5 19 as it is now. It is a striking fact, besides, that no- 
where do the conquerors state that there were any settlements 
of consequence outside of the pueblo of Cholula proper ; and 
this I have found to be fully confirmed by my examination of 
the ground, whose results are embodied in the map annexed. 
Even supposing, what is by no means certain, that all the 
places marked there as in which traces of pottery with ob- 
sidian are now to be found, were indeed inhabited when the 
Spaniards came, their number is not considerable and their 
extent always small, showing that the tribe of Cholula occu- 
pied in fact only one large pueblo, with a few — not more than 
twenty — small groups scattered over a certain portion of its 
range, of which perhaps two deserved the title of villages.^ 

This central pueblo, which the conquerors dignified with 
the title of a " city," was certainly a populous Indian settle- 

1 Gabriel de Rojas, Relacion, etc., § 11 : " Esta ciudad es conegimiento por 
si y cabecera de doctrina en todo su termino, en el cual no hay poblazon for- 
mada, sino algunos alqueriguales y habitaciones de indios donde tienen sus 
heredamientos y sementeras (que en su lengua se llaman milpas). Acuden 
todos los Domingos y fiestas principales a oir misa y sermon al monasterio desta 
ciudad, salvo algunas fiestas del ano que los religiosos de el salen a visitarlos y 
confesarlos, y los dicen misa en las ermitas que por las estancias 6 alquerias 
hay." This quotation is very positive, — it shows that there were no large set- 
tlements outside of the young "city" in its whole district. That district in- 
cluded, then, the Range already stated, of which there is ample proof. Thus, I 
found in the "Archive General," at the city of Mexico, the following indications, 
between the years 1542 and 1641 : — 

Vol. XX. fol. 64. Merced a Juan Alonzo de Castano, — in the " pago de Mala- 
catepec." 

Vol. xxiii. fol. 114. Merced a Luis de Cabrera — "pago de Cuezcomac." 
lb. fol. 1 1 5. Merced a Benito Sandianes, — " ermita de Sta. Maria Zacatepec." 
Vol. xxiv. fol. 30. Orden al Jiisticia Mayor de Cholula, — " Zacatepec." 
lb. fol. 69. Merced a Pedro Cabrera, — " estancia de Tlaxcallantzinco. " 
Vol. xxviii. fol. 56. Merced a Francisco Rodriguez, — "pago de Sta. Clara 
Xocoyucan." 

By referring to the map, it will be seen that these " Mercedes " are all located 
within the district of Cholula, and some very near to its confines. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 163 

ment ; but, fortunately, we have the means for determining a 
maximum area beyond which it cannot have extended at that 
time. The grant, dated 27th October, 1537, creating the 
pueblo a city {ciiidad), with the title of San Pedro Cho- 
lula, fixes the communal lands thereof at two square leagues. 
Within that area, therefore, must have been not only the 
houses, but also the cultivated plots {labranzas) ; only the 
six original quarters {barrios) of the pueblo which are repre- 
sented on the old map of 158 1, and whose names can be 
partly re-established from the books of the church. 

These six quarters were scattered, and not contiguous 
blocks, as now. The space now occupied by the convent, the 
z6calo, the market, and several blocks of to-day beyond it on 
all sides, was only occupied by mounds of worship, by the 
huge "Tianquiz," or Indian market, and by one large official 
house, or " Tecpan." ^ Another " Tecpan " stood farther south, 
about seven blocks from the present market (in the Calle de 
Herreros), or nine hundred metres (two thirds of a mile) 
south-southeast of the convent.^ The dwellings lay irregu- 
larly scattered among the cultivated patches. The great 
pueblo of Cholula itself was therefore a group of six distinct 
clusters, agglomerated round a common market. 

I have already stated that we lack all reliable data concern- 
ing the numbers of population at the period of the Conquqst. 
From what I have now said, it must be inferred that even 
the comparatively moderate figure given by Torquemada,^ of 



1 Gabriel de Rojas, Rclacion. 

2 In the Calle de Herreros, south of the present post-office, there stands 
an old doorway, which bears the following inscription in Nahuatl : " Icni ocan 
ocan Tecpan, oican ichanca Antonio de la Cruz," — Here was the Tecpan, where 
now is the house of Antonio de la Cruz. 

3 Monarchia, etc., lib. iv. cap. Ixxix. p. 522 : " En la senon'a de Cholulla, 
quarenta mill." Lib. iii. cap. xix. p. 281: " Quando entraron los Espaiioles, 
dicen, que tenia mas de quarenta mil vecinos esta ciudad." 



1 64 ARCH^OLOGICAL LXSTITUTE. 

40,000 souls for the whole tribe, is in excess of the truth. If 
we place the aboriginal population ol Cholula, in 1519, at 
30,00v,^, we may be wiihin the limits of truth. ^ 

Before proeeediui;- to the other features of the great central 
pueblo, it is well to cast a glance oi\ its relations to the out- 
side settlements of the tribe. The tie which bound them to 

^ Two ro.isons arc assigned tor a Lugo (.locvcaso ol' the poinil.ition of Cho- 
lula between the yeai-s 1519 and 1546. The earliest one is the so-called ma- 
tiifiskt </f C/io/ttAi, or the slaughter committed by order of Cortes in October, 
1519. This bloody episode of the Conquest was not altogether unjustitiable, 
for those Indian paintings of Cuauhtlantzinco to which I have given the name 
(W/Vj* r<w//<v represent the Cholultecos as really bent upon the act of treachery 
imputed to them by Cortes and his foUowei-s. But the number of the victims has 
been largely exaggerated. Confining myself to the statements of eye-witnesses 
of the event, I can establish the following data, by comparison of which some- 
thing may yet be obtained. 

The list is of course headed by Cortes, dirtj Sri^itfuf^i, p. ::o : " ^ooo. murieron 
en dos horas." (A. de Tapia and Bernal Diez give no tigures.) 

In the C\^<'i\tOfi </<• Z^i\v//«<7/A>j /wt'iZ/Av <iV //iu'u3s, Madrid, 187", vol. xxvii., 
there is (pp. 26, 27) the accusation, dated S May, 1529, by Nutio de Guzman 
against Hernando Cortes, and Charge No. 40 asserts that Cortes caused 4,000 
Indians to be treacherously slaughtered by his men at Cholula. To this Garcia 
do Llerena replies in the name of Cortes (pp. 244, 245), that the latter had some 
of the Indians execxited " tv/o fa^er xusticia do algunos Indies." Cortes then 
submitted the testimony of eye-witnesses, from which I select such as are 
positive. 

P. 184. Martin Vasque.- : " F.l dicho capitan e xonte dio en olios, en los qiuiles 
se fizo castigo." 

Vol. XX. of the Bid/iotAit ffisfifrica tfe la Ib^ria^ Mexico, 1S75. contains the 
following valuable historical document taken from the archives of the city of 
Tlaxcala. and copied by order of Miguel Lira y Ortega, Governor of the State : 
////i'rwtf (■/<»« rtTtidhfii en Mexico y Piietui e/ afio de 1565, (/ A^licifiid del Gi'dermidor 
y Caffi/do de A'ahtrales de Tlaxeala, S(>^re /m sent'ciW iftie frestaron hs Tlaxealtee(>s 
J ffeniiHi Cortes en la Coni/iiista de Mexico. It contains the depositions of seven- 
teen eye-witnesses of the Conquest in relation to the aid furnished by the tribe 
of Tlaxcala, and Questions 5, 6, and 7 of the interrogatories are put in order to 
prove that in the case of the slaughter at Cholula the Tlaxcaltecos valiantly 
assisted the Spaniards. 

P. 115. Martin Lopez says that the Tlaxcaltecos " mataron mucha gente." 

P. 152. Pedro Moreno : " I mando castigar e niatar ciertos Indiiv< por ello." 

P. iSo. Juan de Limpias Carbajal : " El dicho Marques con la dicha su gente 
se apercibio de guerra y asi dio batalla a los Cholultecos hasta que los vencio." 

There arc strangx^ contradictions here. Cortes, in the tii-st place, boasts of 



STUDIES ABOUT CIIOLULA AND TIS VICINITY. 165 

Cholula was that of consanguinity. They were not subjected 
tribes, but small colonies from the main settlement/ who had 
moved out a short distance to avoid over-crowding, or (as was 
the case with Cuauhtlanlzinco afterwards) on acc(nint of some 
difficulty or quarrel,- and who always remained in the relation 

having had 3,000 Indians killed, but as soon as his action is brought against him 
as a crime, the number is reduced to " some " {alj^unos), in the interest of his 
defence. The witnesses from 'I'laxcala and Puebia, however, who speak in 
behalf of the allies of Cortes, and whose evident tendency it was to make the 
Cholula affair appear important, are indefinile, but quite reasonable in their 
statements. 

Subsequent writers have varied the theme in every imaginable manner. I 
quote extremes. Las Casas, Brcuissiina Relatione, etc., pp. 45-47, 5,000 or 6,000 
killed. Fernando Pizarro y Orellana, Varonts Ilustres del Nuevo-Mitndo, Ma- 
drid, 1639, one chief executed. Caj). iii.p.85: " llizo Cortes degollar al Cai)itan 
Indio autor de aquella gran traicion." 

That little could be gathered from eye-witnesses which was worthy of confi- 
dence in regard to the extent of the massacre, is further stated by Fray Toribio 
Motolinia, according to Juan Suarcz de Peralta, Tralado del Desciibrimieiilo de las 
Yndius y su Conquista, y los Rilos y Sacrificios y Costitmbres de los Yndios, etc., 
etc., 1589, published by the " Ministerio de Fomento " of Spain, in 1S78. He 
affirms that the celebrated missionary wrote about the Cholula affair (cap. xv. 
p. 113) : " Si esto pas6, lo tengo por mal hecho, y lo condcno por crueldad ; 
mas yo no hallo quien lo diga, que no se pueda recusar por apasionado." 

If little light can be gathered directly, more is obtainable, however, in an in- 
direct manner. Thus, Cortes says that the 3,000 people were killed in two hours, 
and that the whole affair lasted five hours. Bernal Diez, Hist. Verdadera, etc., 
cap. Ixxxiii. p. 77, reduces the slaughter to a few hours also. Andres de Ta- 
pia, Relacion sobre la Conquista, etc., pp. 576, 577, alone extends the time of the 
butchery to two days. It is not likely that in a few hours every man of the 
Spanish force would have killed his Indian, and even that would not swell 
the numlier killed to beyond 500. Allowing 500 more for the Tlaxcaltecos, I 
cannot see that the diminution of the inhabitants of Cholula by that massacre 
could have been so very great. 

^ Rojas, Relacion de Cholula, 1581, MS. 

2 Cuauhtlantzinco was originally settled by refugees from Cholula, to whom 
some Tlaxcaltecans were subsequently added. It is stated that, when Cortes was 
still at Tla.xcala, some Indians from Cholula went to visit him, and to invite him 
to come to their pueblo. This is indeed confirmed by Cortes, Carta Segunda, 
p. 19, and I'ernal Diez, Historia, etc., cap. Ixxxi. p. 73. But the conquerors did 
not know the real facts of the case. The four Indians of poor appearance {de 
pora valia) came, not in behalf of the tribes of Cholula, but secretly and on their 
own account. However, upon the arrival at Cholula of the Sjjaniards, the 



1 66 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

of kinsmen towards Cholula and each other. This is shown 
by many circumstances. Hence it follows that they must 
have shared in the government of the tribe. The question 
cannot yet be decided as to whether each one of these outside 
groups formed a calpiilli or localized kin, or whether some 
were only fragments of a kindred group residing in the main 
pueblo. But analogy leads us to the inference that the Indian 
groups scattered outside of the main pueblo over the tribal 
range are posterior to the Spanish settlement ; a fact of some 
importance for our appreciation of the remains of mounds 
still found in their vicinity. 

While all the older authors agree in representing the 
tribe of Cholula as a democratic community, thus resting 
on the basis of autonomous kins or gentes congregated 
for mutual protection, they are not clear as to their num- 
ber. Still, I incline to the opinion that the number was 
six, and that, as Torquemada states, the tribal council con- 
sisted therefore of six "speakers"^ {tlatoani), analogous 

Cholultecos seized those who had gone to Tlaxcala, with tlie intention of killing 
them ; but the action of Cortes liberated the victims, — another fact which he 
and Bernal Diez also relate. 

But they were thenceforth treated as traitors, and finally compelled to move 
out of the pueblo, thus founding San Juan Cuauhtlantzinco. Some Tlaxcaltecos 
joined them, for in the Peticion de la Merced, 1557, MS., the name Xicotencatl 
already appears. All this is painted, with text in Nahuatl and Spanish transla- 
tion, in the Codlce Campos. That the relations of Cuauhtlantzinco were originally 
more cordial with Tlaxcala than with Cholula is also confirmed in Merced de 
Cuauhtlantzinco, MS. One of the Indians who had gone out to meet Cortes, 
and was afterwards persecuted for it, was Tepoxtecatl, an ancestor of Joaquin 
Tepotztecatl, to whose courage and friendship I have become so much in- 
debted. 

1 I recall the six har7-ios on the map of Rojas. A positive statement is found 
in Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., lib. iv. cap. xxxix. p. 438 : " Porque como 
aquella ciudad se repartia en seis grandes Barrios." Lib. iii. cap. xix. p. 2S2 : 
" Gobernabase entonces por un Capitan General, elegido por la Republica, con 
el Consejo de seis nobles." That the six kins were distributed over the entire 
range is proved by Vetancurt, Cronica, etc., p. 173 : " Los pueblos de visita son 
treinta y dos, en seis parcialidades repartidos." (This also shows that from 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY, 167 

to the Sachems of northern tribes,-^ and the Curacas of 
Peru.^ 

The chief executive of the tribe of Cholula consisted of two 
officers, whose titles are given respectively as Aqiiiach and 
Tlalquiach. Their functions are commonly stated to have 
been of a religious nature, but at the same time they are 
decorated with the warlike appellations of " eagle " and " tiger," 
which shows that they were properly chiefs, with whose duties 
the Indian everywhere connected performances of worship or 
" medicine." ^ These officers offer a striking analogy to the 
two war-chiefs of the Iroquois confederacy ; ^ but still greater 
is the similarity with the head executives of more Southern 
tribes, particularly of Mexico. I allude to the two chiefs of 
Mexico, of Chalco, of Tlaxcala, of Michhuacan, of the Quiche 
in Guatemala,^ and even of the Peruvian Ynca.^ 



16S9 to 1746 eleven new pueblos were created.) For the office of speaker, or 
tlatoani, compare Social Organization, etc., pp. 646-658. 

There is a faint indication that not only the gens and tribe, but even the 
phratry, existed at Cholula. Torquemada, lib. iv. cap. xxxix. p. 438, speaking of 
the six barrios, says : " Los tres tenian la parte de Motecuh9uma, y los otros no." 

1 Morgan, Ancient Society, part ii. cap. ii. pp. 71-74. 

2 I would merely call attention to the fact here that the 12 quarters (possibly 
16) of Cuzco, were localized kins, Ayllus, and that the delegates, Curacas, one 
from each quarter, composed the supreme council of the Ynca tribe. 

3 Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., lib. iii. cap. xix. p. 282, speaks of but one 
capita}! general. Cortes, Carta Segunda, p. 21, says: " Excepto que se gobiernan 
como los de Tlascaltecal." Andres de Tapia, Relacion, etc , p. 575 : " fi en esta 
cibdad no habia ningun senor principal, salvo capitanes de la republica." The 
information I give is taken from Gabriel de Rojas, Relacion de Cholula, MS., 
§ 13, confirmed by his contemporary from Tlaxcala, Diego Mufioz Camargo, 
Frag77ientos de Historia Mexicana pertenecientes en gran parte a la Provincia de 
Tlaxcala, printed in 1870, p. 153. I give the names as I found them, but am 
satisfied they are much corrupted. Aquiach is probably Achcacauhtin. Men- 
dieta. Hist. Ecclesidstica, etc., lib. ii. cap. xviii. p. 104. 

* Morgan, League of the Iroquois, book i. cap. iii. pp. 73, 74. Ancient Society, 
pp. 146, 147. Parkman, Jesuits in North Afjierica, Introd., pp. Ixiv, Ixv. 

^ Social Organization, etc., pp. 659, 660. 

6 There is abundant proof of the fact that the Yncas had two chiefs, the 
Ccapac Ynca (dispensing Ynca), and the Uillac Umu (speaking head). 



1 68 ARCH^OLOCICAL INSTITUTE. 

These offices are stated to have been for life/ but elective as 
to the persons.^ 

The duties of the governors consisted in executing the de- 
crees of the tribal council, and in acting as "foremen" in its 
meetings. These were held not only for administrative pur- 
poses, but they also were the courts of the tribe. Hence, the 
governors were also the judicial officers."^ 

As at Mexico and among other tribes, the chief executive 
officers wielded a certain amount of power by choosing their 
subalterns. Thus, they might appoint and depose war-cap- 
tains as leaders of special expeditions.* But they had no 
supreme authority, and it was the tribal council who consti- 
tuted the highest power.^ Cholula was therefore, to all 
intents and purposes, as perfect a military democracy as 
was any other Indian tribe in the sixteenth century. 

But Cholula is also commonly represented as a holy city, a 
sacred place, a resort of pilgrimage for all the tribes around, 
those of the valley of Mexico included. Even Bernal Diez 
faintly alludes to such tales. ^ It sufBces to recall the state of 
intertribal warfare which prevailed in aboriginal Mexico, to 
establish the utter fallacy of this pretension, which the natives 
of Cholula even to this day assert, and which Rojas gravely 
advances in the year 1581.^ Cholula was constantly at war 
with one or the other of its neighbors, and between these 
struggles it had to repel the attacks of the Mexicans and their 

1 Gabriel de Rojas, Relacion, etc, § 13. Tcstame7ito de Capixlahitatzin, MS- 

2 Rojas, Relacion, etc., § 13, says that the succession took place by age. This 
is contradicted by Cortes, Ca7'ta Segimda, p. 21 ; and by Torquemada, lib. iii. 
cap. xix. p. 282 ; lib. xi. cap. xxiv. p. 351. 

3 Rojas, Relacion, etc., represents the two governors in the same capacity as 
the Cihuacohnatl of Mexico. Social Organization, pp. 657-662. 

* Rojas, Relacion, etc. 

^ Torquemada, Motmrckta, etc., lib. iii. cap. xix. p. 2S2 ; lib. xi. cap. xxiv. 

P- 351- 

6 Hist. Verdadera, etc., cap. Ixxxiii. p. 77. 

^ Relacion de Cholula, MS. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 1 69 

confederates. Such chronic warfare abundantly disproves the 
claims to religious respect brought forward in behalf of the 
pueblo. Even the pre-eminence which Quetzalcohuatl, the 
chief idol of Cholula, is said to have enjoyed over the whole of 
central Mexico is vigorously denied by the Indians of Tlaxcala 
and of the Mexican valley itself.^ Nevertheless, since it is 
deemed that worship had a leading share in the government 
and organization of the Cholultecans, it becomes my duty to 
examine what this worship was, and on what foundations it 
rested. 

We have the concurrent testimony of nearly all authors to 
the effect that the religious practices of Cholula were insti- 
tuted by Quetzalcohuatl, and that he was not only the founder 
or reformer of religion, but according to some a social reformer 
also, and an inventor of arts and sciences. No other Mexican 
deity seems to appear under such a definite human form ; no 
other has been represented as the subject of such apparently 
historical tradition, and none has in the past four centuries 
been made the theme of such extensive and varied specula- 
tions. It is impossible, in the present state of knowledge, or 
rather of notions current about it, to treat of aboriginal Cho- 
lula without approaching the question, Who or what was Que- 

1 The Indians of Tlaxcala claimed that Quetzalcohuatl was the son of their 
tribal idol Camaxtli. Motolinia, Libro de Oro, MS., cap. xxvii. p. 97. At 
Tlaxcala : " Aqui ofrecian al demonio despues de haver vestido las vestiduras e 
insiguiss del dios de Cholula, que llaman Quetzalcoatl, este decian ser hijo del 
mismo Camaxtle, las cuales vestiduras traian los de Chololla, que esta de aqui 
cinco leguas pequenas, para esta fiesta ; y esto mismo hacian los de Tlaxcalla, 
que llevaban las insignias de ser demonio a Chololla, cuando alia se hacia ser 
fiesta, las cuales eran muchas y se las vestian con muchas ceremonias, como 
hacen a nuestros obispos cuando se visten de pontifical. Entonces decian : ' hoy 
sale Camaxtle como ser hijo Quetzalcoatl.' " This shows reciprocity, at best, if 
not indeed a tribal boast on the part of Tlaxcala of having an older and better 
deity than Cholula. But the so-called pilgrimage to Cholula is explained if we 
think of the fairs and market of that pueblo. Cholula, owing to its position, 
was a popular trading post, and those Indians who came from outside tribes to 
barter naturally brought a present to its chief idol. 



170 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

tzalcohuatl ? I trust, therefore, that the very long digression 
which I now must make upon that subject may be pardoned. 

The word Qttetzal-cohiiatl signifies " bright, or shining 
snake, "^ and is a very fair specimen of an Indian personal 
name. It has been made the subject of many interpreta- 
tions of a symbolical tendency, which I cannot refer to here 
in detail. It is sufficient to state that it is a genuine Indian 
word. Our knowledge of Quetzalcohuatl is derived from tra- 
dition, and from those who saw the idols under whose shape 
he was made the object of worship, as well as the forms of 
worship themselves, or who heard both described by natives. 

The earliest mention of it is of course that given by Cortes 
himself. His statement, that Montezuma told him how the 
Mexicans had been led to their country by a chief, who after- 
wards returned to his former home,^ was interpreted as if that 
leader had been Quetzalcohuatl. It must be noted here, that 
the text of this tale of the Indian war-captain was, only a few 
years afterwards, completely distorted by Peter Martyr,^ but 
re-established subsequently through^Gomara.* Neither should 

1 Not "feathered serpent." The word is composed of QuetzalU, "pluma rica, 
larga y verde," (Molina, Vocabulario, ii. fol. 89,) and colmatl, "snake." But 
Quetzalli only applies to the feathers in the sense of indicating their bright hues, 
for Quetzalitztli is emerald, and not " hairstone," for which the natives have the 
word tetzontli, from tetl, stone, and tzontli, hair. The words, therefore, are evi- 
dently intended to designate the bright and changing hues of the snake's skin. 

2 Carta Segiinda, p. 25. 

3 De Novo Orbe, Dec. v. cap. iii. fol. 189 : " A certain great prince transported 
in shippes, beefore the memorie of all men lining, brought our anncestors unto 
these coasts, whither voluntarily, or driven by tempest, it is not manifest, who 
leauing his companions, departed into his country, and at length returning, 
would haue had them gone back againe." There is not a word of all this in 
Cortes, neither in the report of Oviedo, Hist. General y Natural, etc., lib. xxxiii. 
cap. V. p. 285. But the speech of Montezuma when he sought to induce the 
Mexicans to become tributary to the Spaniards, as reported by Cortes, Carta 
Segimda, p. 30, and copied by Oviedo, lb., p. 296, so far resembles the report of 
Peter Martyr that it includes everything except the main point, namely, the coming 
by sea in ships. 

* Segunda Parte, etc., p. 341. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. I 71 

we overlook the fact that, about twenty years afterwards, Don 
Antonio de Mendoza, first viceroy of Mexico, very clearly ap- 
plied this tradition, not to Quetzalcohuatl, but to Huitzilo- 
pochtli.^ Andres de Tapia and Bernal Diez do not mention 
the conversation in question, but the earhest document writ- 
ten on Mexican soil by Spaniards and bearing date May 20, 
15 19, recalls a tale very similar to the one attributed to Monte- 
zuma, whose authenticity is at least doubtful.^ It was Fray 
Toribio Motolinia who first stated the tradition that Quetzal- 
cohuatl was expected by the aborigines to return,^ and his 
contemporary Sahagun confirms it in so far as affirming that, 
when the Spaniards landed, the Indians regarded them as 
being the aforesaid deity with his followers.* Duran, as well 
as Tezozomoc, is more positive, and more detailed yet. A 

1 Oviedo, Hist. Gene7-al, etc., lib. xxxiii. cap. 1. pp. 531, 532. 

^ Real Ejeaitoria de S. M. sobre Tierras y Reservas de Pechos y Paga, pertene- 
cientes a los Caciques de Axapusco, de la yiirisdicion de Otw7iba. Icazbalceta, 
Col. de Docs., vol. ii. pp. 9, 10 : " Lo mas importante y necesario es que dice 
estando, el gran rey Acamapichi el primero, el ano de 1384, vino un hombre 
bianco con barbas y vestido como papa de la manera de esta tierra, al pare- 
cer sacerdote, con un libro en las manos." The mention of a precise date at 
such an early day, hardly one month after Cortes's arrival, and when intercourse 
with the natives was still necessarily very imperfect, owing to ignorance of 
their language, and because the Spaniards could not have any idea of their com- 
putation of time, makes it suspicious. The date 1384, as indicative of the election 
of Acamapichtli, is found in three writers, all of whom wrote at the close of 
the sixteenth century : Sahagun, Acosta, and Enrico Martinez. (The last only 
copied Acosta.) Compare Orozco y Berra, Ojedda sobre Cronologia ]\Iexicana, in 
Bibiioteca Mexicana, pp. 168-173. Acosta avowedly gathered his material from 
Tobar, and the " white man " with a long beard and a book is mentioned by the 
latter in Codice Ramirez, p. 81, and he is the only author of the sixteenth century 
who mentions the book. The Real Ejecutoria is not an>original, but a copy made 
at the request of the Indians in the year 1617 (pp. 2, 24), and because the original 
was much mutilated, and the very part of it containing this story is where it was 
most damaged. It looks, therefore, as if the passage quoted was a reconstruc- 
tion or insertion made in 1617, while the Padre Tobar was still alive, and the 
knowledge he had gathered still clear in the minds of the Indians whose faithful 
teacher he had so long been. 

3 Historia, etc., Trat. i. cap. xii. p. 65. 

^ Historia General, etc., lib. xii. cap. ii. p. 5 ; cap. iii. p. 7. 



172 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

vast number of conclusions have since been drawn from this 
gradually expanded tale, and I think it advisable to devote 
more attention to it. 

The collection of aboriginal tales and traditions made by 
order of the Bishop Zumarraga, and entitled " Historia de los 
Mexicanos por sus Pinturas," ^ (a manuscript certainly writ- 
ten previous to 1536,) contains the history of Quetzalcohuatl 
also, but does not say a word of any prophecy about his 
return. Mentioning the surprise of the natives when they saw 
the Spaniards arrive by sea, it merely says that Montezuma 
thought his gods were coming {(jiie estos eran sits dioses). 
It is very natural that the Indians should take for superior 
beings those who came by way of that ocean which was to 
the aborigines Tehuica-atl, — the water of heaven, — and it 
needed no mythical prophecy to cause them to be regarded 
as descended from heaven. If, therefore, the tradition of 
Ouetzalcohuatl's return is genuine, as I am inclined to be- 
lieve, there is absolutely no evidence to prove that this return 
was expected by sea, rather than by land, or, in general, from 
one quarter or country whatever in preference to any other.^ 
The Spaniards were regarded as supernatural visitors, and, as 
Tezozomoc very plainly states, they were associated with 
Quetzalcohuatl only after it became known that they had 
not eaten the natives up, but on the contrary made them 
presents."^ 

1 Original belonging to Sr. Garci'a-Icazbalceta, forming part of the Libro 
de Oro. Published by him in Andles del Museo Nacional, vol. ii. no. 2. My 
subsequent reference is to page loi. The manuscript bears on its title-page : 
" Esta relacion saque de la pintura que truxo Ramirez, Obispo de Cuenca, Pre- 
sidente de la Cancilleria." The Bishop Ramirez de Fuenleal was at Mexico 
from 1 531 to 1535. 

" Sahagun, Historia, etc., lib. xii. cap. iii. p. 7 : " Y como tenia relacion que 
Quetzalcoatl habia ida por la mar acia el oriente, y los navios venian de acia el 
oriente, por esto pensaron que era el." This is clear enough. 

3 Cronica Mexicana, cap. cvii. p. 68S. Andres de Tapia, Relacion, etc., p. 569, 
an eye-witness, confirms this story. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 173 

The next allusion to the history of Quetzalcohuatl by any of 
the conquerors is that of Andres de Tapia. It is doubly im- 
portant, not only from the fact of its being very concise and 
plain, but also because it refers directly to Cholula, and comes 
from a person who, for a few years after the Conquest, held 
that pueblo in Encomienda.^ Tapia says : " And in this city 
they held for principal god a man who lived in former times, 
and called him Ouetzalquate, who, from what is said, founded 
that city, commanding them not to kill men, but to build 
houses to the creator of the sun and sky, wherein they should 
offer to him quails and other game, and that they should not 
hurt each other nor hate each other. They say that he wore 
a white robe like that of a friar, with a cloak over it, covered 
with red crosses."^ 

Soon after the Conquest the tradition or myth of Quetzal- 
cohuatl became very prominent, until at last, in the seven- 
teenth century, it was moulded into a historical resume, prin- 
cipally by Fray Juan de Torquemada. The notions now 
current are largely due to that writer. But we must go back 
as much as possible to the original stories, including only 
such authorities as wrote within one hundred years after the 
Conquest. 

I begin with the " Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pintu- 
ras," christened " Codice Zumarraga" by Sr. Chavero. In 
point of date it stands nearest to the Conquest, and ought 
therefore to show the least influence of Biblical narratives 
infused into the minds of the Indians. 

This authority positively and plainly states that Quetzal- 
cohuatl was the third of the four principal Mexican gods, all 
sons of the original life-giving pair Tonaca-tecutli and Tonaca- 

1 Torquemada, MonarcMa, etc., lib. v. cap. xii. p. 613. I doubt whether this 
is perfectly correct, as far as the duration of the Encomienda is concerned. 

2 Relacion sobre la Conqiiista, etc., pp. 573, 574. 



174 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

cihuatl, and was called also Yahualli-ehecatl. To him and to 
Huitzilopochtli the other two gods intrusted the decision of 
what should be done, and so they began, and " by commission 
and with the consent of the other two forthwith made the fire, 
and after that was made a half-sun, which not being entire shone 
but very little. Afterwards they made a man and a woman." 
In short, Ouetzalcohuatl shared with Huitzilopochtli the work 
of that first creation, which included also that of the gods 
of the infernal regions, the deities of water and of rain. As 
the sun, however, was only of half size, it was not suffi- 
cient ; therefore, Tezcatlipoca, one of the four principal gods, 
changed himself into the sun, and appeared as that luminary 
for 13 X 52 = 6^6 years. After this time Quetzalcohuatl 
forcibly took his place for a period of equal length ; after which 
Tezcatlipoca overthrew him again, and Tlalocatecuhtli (god of 
hell) continued to be sun for 364 years. Then Ouetzalcohuatl 
" rained fire from heaven, and deposed Atlalocatecli from 
being sun, and put in his place his wife Chalchiuttlique, who 
remained sun six times fifty-two years, which are 302 years " 
(this should be 312). To this last change succeeded the great 
cataclysm, which so closely resembles the Biblical story of the 
deluge, when "there fell so much water, and it rained so long, 
that the heavens fell in." This rather incommoded the gods 
who dwelt up above ; so each one burrowed a path to the cen- 
tre of the earth by the aid of four men specially created for 
that purpose, and Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcohuatl changed 
themselves into trees, " and with the men and the trees and 
gods raised the heavens with the stars as it is now, , . . 
and afterwards, as Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcohuatl walked 
through the skies, they made the road that goes through it, 
and on which they met, and since they remain in it, making 
it their home." 

Thirteen years after this catastrophe, the gods determined 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. I 75 

to make another sun, (the first one having been broken by the 
fall of the heavens), and " Ouetzalcohuatl wished his son, who 
had no mother, to be the sun, and he also wished that Tlalo- 
catecli, god of the waters, should make of the son whom he 
had by his wife, Chalchiutli, the moon. In order to do it they 
fasted, . . . drew blood from the ears and body in their 
prayers and sacrifices. Then Quetzalcohuatl took his son 
and threw him into a great fire, out of which he came forth as 
the sun to illuminate the earth ; and after the fire had ceased 
to burn, Tlalocatectli came and threw his son into the ashes, 
and he came forth as the moon." 

Quetzalcohuatl is next mentioned in connection with the 
various bands which are represented as having settled Mex- 
ico, when it is stated that " Mizquique went forth, carrying 
along with him for. his god Quetzalcohuatl." But there is 
still another occurrence which has been subsequently con- 
nected with that name, and which the " Historia," etc. re- 
lates in the following manner : " They say, and show by 
their paintings, that in the first year of the sixth series of 
thirteen the Chichimecos were at war with Camasale (Ca- 
maxtli), and captured his deer by which he used to conquer ; 
and the reason why he lost it was because, while straying 
across the fields, he met with a female relative of Tezcatli- 
poca, who gave birth to a son by him, whom they named 
Ceacalt (Ce-acatl). In this sixth series of thirteen (years) 
they paint how Ceacalt, after he was a youth, fasted for seven 
years, wandering alone through the hills, and drawing his 
blood, because the gods made of him a great warrior ; and 
in that period this Ceacalt began to make war, and was the 
first chief of Tula, because its inhabitants selected him for 
their chief on account of his bravery. The said Ceacalt lived 
until the second year of the ninth series of thirteen, being 
chief of Tula ; and four years previously he built at Tula a 



176 ARCHJEOLOGICAL LYSTITCrTE. 

great temple. While he was doing- this, Tezcatlipoca came to 
him and said that towards Honduras, in a place to-day called 
Tlapalla, he was to establish his home, and that he should leave 
Tula and go thither to live and die, and that there they would 
hold him to be their god. To this he replied that the heavens 
and stars had told him to go within four years. So, after four 
years were past, he left, taking along with him all the able- 
bodied men of Tula. Some of these he left in the city of 
Chulula (Cholula), and from these its inhabitants are de- 
scended. Others he left in the province of Cuzcatan (Coz- 
catlan), from whom are descended those who live there ; and 
he also left some at Cempoal as settlers. Reaching Tlapalla, 
he fell sick the same day, and died the dav following. Tula 
remained waste and without a chief for nine years." ^ 

I have copied these passages at length, because they rep- 
resent : — 

1. Quetzalcohuatl as an Indian deity connected with the 
earliest phases of the earth's changes, but without any his- 
torical features. 

2. Ce-acatl, whom many are wont to identify with Quetzal- 
cohuatl, as having been a cross-breed between the stock of 
Cama.vtli (one of the principal gods) and a woman of terres- 
trial origin, and as an historical personage. 

The next information in regard to our subject, in point of 
time, is derived from Fray Toribio IMotolinia. This can be 
reduced to a few points : — 

I. That Quetzalcohuatl was the son of a chief of Chicomoz- 
toc (whence the settlers of INIexico came) and of his second 
wife, called Chimalmat, and that he was a distinguished and 
chaste man, who introduced good customs {la hy natural) 
among the natives.- 

^ Hhtoria de los 3fc'xicanos for s^tts Pintttms, cap. i. p. S5, cap. ii. p. S6, cap. 
iv. p. 8S, cap. V. p. 89, cap. vii. p. 90, cap. viii. p. 91, cap. .x. p. 9-. 
- Libro de Oro, MS., E/istola Fnvmial, p. 10. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. I'jj 

2. That Ouetzalcohuatl was the son of Camaxtli, principal 
god of Tlaxcala.^ 

3. That he was a native of Tula, who built up {salio a edi- 
ficar) Tlaxcala, Huexotzinco,and Cholula, finally disappearing 
on the southern coast of the present State of Vera Cruz.^ 

4. That his return was hoped for by the natives, who wor- 
shipped him as god of the air or wind.^ 

Motolini'a is strictly corroborated, if not followed, by Go- 
mara,^ and there is something in his relation which recalls the 
subsequent tales of Diego Mufioz Camargo/^ and therefore 
leads to the inference that the distinguished ecclesiastic might 
have partly reproduced the local traditions of Tlaxcala. 

About the middle of the sixteenth century we meet with 
many stories concerning Ouetzalcohuatl in that anonymous 
chronicle of Indian origin, written in the Nahuatl language, 
with European letters, and called variously " Anales de 
Cuauhtitlan " and " Codex Chimalpopoca." ^ It is easy to 
reduce these tales to a comprehensive and logical result, 
and from it we gather the following conclusions: — 

I. That Quetzalcohuatl created the heavens and earth in the 
year one rabbit, in which year also the Toltecs were "founded." 
The latter is, however, related in a very indistinct and doubt- 
ful way.'^ 

^ Lihro de Oro, MS., cap. xxvii. p. 97. 

2 Ibid., cap. XXX. p. 105. Historia, etc., Trat. i. cap. xii. p. 65. 
'^ Historia, etc., p. 65. 

* Segunda Parte, etc., pp. 432, 448. The edition of this singular chronicle 
referred to is the one by Vedia, vol. i. 

5 Frag7nentQs, etc., pp. i, 2. They do not fully agree, however. 

6 Published, with the Nahuatl text and two Spanish translations, one by the 
late Sr. Faustino Chimalpopoca-Galicia, and the other by Senors Gumesindo 
Mendoza and Felipe Sanchez-Solis, in Anales del Mitseo, beginning with no. 7 
of vol. i., and carried (as far as it is in my possession) to no. 4 of vol. ii. inclusive, 
and therefore not complete as yet. It appears to have been made about 1558. 
Charles £tienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, 1S61, Introduction, p. cxi. 

"^ Anales de Cuauhtitlan, p. 9. 



178 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

2. That Quetzalcohuatl was born subsequently in the year 
one cane (Ce-acatl) ; that he was the son of Totepeuh (our 
hill), and of Chimalnau, who were both Toltecs, and that he 
was also called Topiltzin (our boy).^ 

3. That after being one of the chiefs of the Toltecs, to which 
dignity he was raised after many years of wanderings and of 
a very abstinent and secluded life, taunted and tempted by 
demons, Quetzalcohuatl was moved by the arts of Tezcatlipoca 
to leave Tollan for Tlapallan, where he died. His ashes were 
carried to heaven by handsome birds ; the heart followed, and 
became the morning star.^ 

There is in the " Anales de Cuauhtitlan " much that recalls 
both the " Codex Zumarraga " and the statements of Motoli- 
ni'a. Thus, we have again two Quetzalcohuatls, and the last 
of the two is made to descend from the Toltecs and from 
parents with analogous names. Furthermore, the story of 
Ce-acatl told by the Zumarraga manuscript agrees with the 
tale of the second Oueztalcohuatl in both instances. But the 
Cuauhtitlan record has, besides, the story of the transfor- 
mation into the morning star, which story closes with the 
very singular and even suspicious words: "The ancients 
also say that this luminary disappeared for four days, dur- 
ing which time it dwelt in the infernal regions, and that 
four days afterwards appeared the great star, which was when 
Quetzalcohuatl took his royal seat." 

We now come to an author of great renown, and who 
studied extensively the traditions of the aborigines. Father 
Bernardino Ribeira, known as " Sahagun," who treats of 
Quetzalcohuatl extensively. 

I. He says distinctly that he was a man, but worshipped 
as god of the winds, who swept or prepared the road for the 
gods of water.^ 

1 Anales de Cuauhtitlan, pp. 13, 14. ^ Ibid., pp. 14-22. 

8 Historia General, vol. i. lib. i. cap. v. pp. 3, 4. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 179 

2. He lived, and was worshipped at "Tulla," and was the 
inventor of many useful arts. At Tula he was chief in re- 
ligious matters only, while Uemac was the " chief of the 
Tultecos in temporal affairs." ^ 

3. The artifices and tricks of Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, 
and Tlacahuepan drove Quetzalcohuatl away from Tulla to 
Tlapallan, whither he went in a " raft formed of snakes ; " 
but it is not known " how and in what manner he arrived at 
Tlapallan." ^ 

The traditions of TIaxcala (I shall mention those of Cholula 
further on) already reported by Tapia, are further contained in 
the official " Relacion," written in 1581 by Gabriel de Rojas.^ 
They speak of Quetzalcohuatl as of a great captain who founded 
Cholula, and to whom the people afterwards paid divine wor- 
ship. 

A group of authors of the sixteenth century, to which I am 
now to refer, includes the Jesuit Father Tobar and the Domini- 
can Duran. Tezozomoc, whose work is still incomplete as we 
have it, so closely agrees with the former, that we need not 
refer to him specially, and the same is the case with Acosta. 

Tobar represents Quetzalcohuatl as a holy man who ap- 
peared in Mexico ages ago, and who, after preaching and 
teaching for some time, embarked on the sea towards the 
rising sun, promising to return at some future day. He also 
says that at Cholula the idol Quetzalcohuatl was the " god of 
the merchants." * 

Duran is more detailed. He corroborates the statements 
of his Jesuit contemporary, but calls the mysterious foreigner 

^ Historia General, vol. i. lib. iii. cap. iii.-v. pp. 243-240 ; vol. iii. lib. x. cap. 
xxix. pp. 112, 113. 

2 Ibid., vol. i. lib. iii. cap. vi.-xiv. pp. 245-259; vol. iii. lib. x. cap. xxix. p. 103. 

3 Relacion de Cholula, § 14 : " Un capitan que trujo la gente desta ciudad anti- 
guamente a poblar en ella de partes muy remotas hacia el Poniente, que no se 
sabe certinidad della, y este capitan se llamaba Quetzalcoatl." 

* Codice Ramirez, i. p. 8r, ii. cap. iv. p. 117. 



l8o ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

Topiltzin, and says that he had disciples who preached his 
maxims, and who were called " tolteca, which signifies artisans 
or proficients in some art." He also states that the tricks and 
machinations of Tezcatlipoca drove him from Tula, and that 
on his way to the sea he carved upon the rocks crosses and 
images. At the sea-coast he spread his mantle on the waves 
and stood on it, and then made a sign with the hand over the 
robe, which began to float and carried him out of sight. But 
he also calls this strange person Uemac, and attributes his 
departure, not only to Tezcatlipoca, but to Quetzalcohuatl also.^ 

The last Indian author of the sixteenth century, although he 
wrote mostly in the seventeenth, is Fernando de Alba Ixtlil- 
xochitl. I attach little importance to his statements, except 
as they are an echo, to some extent, of those of Juan Bau- 
tista Pomar, who was, like him, a native of Tezcuco, and who 
wrote a highly important " Relacion de Tezcuco" in 1583. 
Ixtlilxochitl makes of Quetzalcohuatl a contemporary of the 
Olmecs, and a predecessor of the Toltecs. He further 
states that he was also called Huemac, and that he planted 
and worshipped the cross, and that finally, after a long resi- 
dence at Cholollan, he disappeared on the coast.^ 

Quetzalcohuatl is a word of the Nahuatl language, and the 
tradition therefore appears to be a Nahuatl tradition. It is 
somewhat startling, on that account, to find it among tribes 
that are not only of different linguistic stocks, but reside 
at a considerable distance from the high plateau of Mexico. 
Our investigation would be incomplete without a reference 
to these tribal tales. Among the Tzendals of Chiapas, the 
tradition of Votan, who is said to have been the first founder 
of that tribe, bears great resemblance to Quetzalcohuatl. 

1 Historia de las Yndias de Niieva Espana, etc., vol. ii. cap. Ixxix. pp. 72 to 78; 
cap. Ixxxiv. pp. 118 to 122. 

2 I merely quote one of his works, Histoire des CJiichimiqjies, etc., cap. i. pp. 

4 to 6. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. l8l 

Votan is reported to have called himself " Snake," and to 
have left the country after organizing its settlement.^ Bar- 
tolome de las Casas, and after him Antonio de Remesal, men- 
tion a tale according to which a band of twenty " holy men " 
landed on the shores of Tabasco, or Yucatan.^ I lay no stress 
on all these reports, for they appear to me, at best, but con- 
fused echoes of the traditions of Quetzalcohuatl, gathered 
through contact with Nahuatl Indians. But the case is dif- 
ferent with the Quiche tribe of Guatemala, and the Maya of 
Yucatan. 

The traditions of the Quiche have been collected, hke those 
of the Nahuatl, and the most complete, though by no means 
concise, statement of them, from the sixteenth century, is that 
singular gathering to which the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg 
has given the title of " Popol Vuh."^ It bears, in its cosmo- 
logical tales, some similarity to the Codex Zumarraga. Four 
principal gods create the world, and one of these is called 
Gukumatz, shining or brilliant snake. Gukumatz, therefore, 
may be a parallel to Quetzalcohuatl, if not identical with 
him. There are other analogies which I cannot mention 

1 The tradition of Votan would be of suspicious origin, if his name were not 
in the so-called Chiapas Calendar. The earliest record of it which I find is in 
Nunez de la Vega, — Coiistituciones Diocesanas del Abispado de Chiappas, Roma, 
1701, Preambulo, Nos. 32 to 35, — which is the result of an inquiry about the 
antiquities of Chiapas by that bishop, in the year 1691. I have discussed this 
question in Social Orgajtization, note 28, pp. 571, etc. Felix Cabrera, Teatro 
Critico Americano, in Minutoli, Beschreilmng eiiier alien Stadt die in Guatemala 
{Netc Spanien) tcvfern Palenqtie entdeckt worden ist, 1832, repeats, on p. 33, the 
words attributed to Votan, — " I am a snake (Culebra), because I am Chi vim." 

2 Las Casas, Apologetica Historia de las Lidias, MS., cap. 124. Antonio de 
Remesal, Historia de la Provincia de San Vicente de Chyapa y Guatemala de la 
Orden de San Domingo, Madrid, 1620, lib. v. cap. vii. p. 247, copies from Las 
Casas. 

3 Popol Viih, le Livre Sacre, etc., Paris, 1861. I have expressed my views on 
this important work fully in two papers, " On the Sources for Aboriginal His- 
tory of Spanish America," in Proceedings of the Amci-ican Association for the 
Advancement of Science, vol. xxvii. August, 1878, pp. 328-332 ; and in Notes on 
the Bibliography of Yucatan, etc., pp. 30-32. 



1 82 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 

here. We have, therefore, in the Quiche tradition a figure 
resembUng Quetzalcohuatl, under the name of Gukumatz., 
as an Indian deity connected with the earUest stages of 
creation.^ 

But while we easily recognize that feature of the tale of 
Quetzalcohuatl in the Popol Vuh, we absolutely miss the 
other side of the story, in which he is represented as a man. 
This is the more noteworthy, since, in the traditions of 
Yucatan, the very inverse occurs. 

The Bishop Diego de Landa, who, while a diligent perse- 
cutor of Indian superstition, was a no less diligent student of 
Indian antiquities, in Yucatan, has left us the following ac- 
count : " There is among the Indians the belief, that over 
the Itzacs who settled at Chicheniza ruled a great chief called 
Cuculcan, and proof of it is the principal edifice, which is 
named Cuculcan. They say that he came from the west, but 
differ as to whether he came before the Itzacs, or with them, 
or after them. They say also that he was well formed, and 
had neither wife nor child, and that after his return he was 
held in Mexico for one of their gods, and called Cezalcouatl 
(Quetzal-cohuatl), and that in Yucatan they also regarded him 

as a god That this Cuculcan lived with the chiefs for 

some time, and, leaving them in great peace and friendship, 
he returned to Mexico."^ 

If now we consider attentively the various statements which 
I have collected, it must strike us : — 

I. That the tale of Quetzalcohuatl is limited to tribes of 
Nahuatl stock, though it may exist among tribes residing 
south of their ranges.^ 

1 Popol Villi, Part I. Pre. p. 2, cap. i. pp. 6, 8, 10, cap. ii. pp. 20, 22. Part III. 
cap. i. pp. 194, 196, cap. ii. pp. 198, 202, etc. 

2 Relation des Choses de Yucatan, 1864, French translation by Brasseur de 
Bourbourg, pp. 34-36. 

^ There is no trace o£ the Quetzalcohuatl myth in the traditions of Michhua- 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 183 

2. That Quetzalcohuatl appears under two forms : — 

a. . As an Indian god, connected with the creation of the 
world, 

b. As an historical personage. 

To these I wish to add a third form, that of a Christianized 
Quetzalcohuatl, a product of the earliest teachings of the 
Christian faith mixed with the myths of the aborigines. It is 
even difficult to eliminate this post-conquistorial figure from 
the oldest recorded tales. 

Thus, while we may conceive the deluge described in the 
Zumarraga manuscript as an aboriginal tale, — owing to the 
stories about " raising up " the fallen skies, and the origin 
of the milky way,^ — the story of Quetzalcohuatl sacrificing 
his only child, " who had no mother," in order to convert him 
into the sun, is somewhat suspicious. In the Cuauhtitlan 
manuscript the following statements have a decided Biblical 
tinge : — 

1. The wanderings, fastings, and temptations in the desert, 
before entering upon a public career. 

2. The ascent to heaven and transformation into the morn- 
ing star, after having passed four days in the infernal regions. 

The Christian element becomes very plain, it even pre- 
dominates, in the histories of Tobar and Duran. In them 
Quetzalcohuatl is no longer an Indian god or an Indian chief; 
he is simply a missionary performing miracles like those of the 
Bible, and teaching after the manner of the Apostles, if not of 
Christ himself.^ Ixtlilxochitl finally makes him plant and 

can, as far as these are known to me. Matias de la Mota-Padilla, Historia de la 
Conqidsta de la Provincia de la Nueva Galicia, cap. i. p. 21, mentions a deity whom 
he calls " Heri," stating that he prophesied "la entrada de hombres orientales 
en sus tierras." 

1 This tale is eminently Indian in form. This does not exclude the possibility 
of its existence outside of this continent, but I cannot enter upon any discussion 
of this point. 

^ I allude here to the statements of Duran, Historia, etc., vol. ii. cap. Ixxix. 



184 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

worship the cross in due form, thus paving the way for the 
subsequent hypothesis, that he was the Apostle St. Thomas.^ 
I must state here that the cross, though frequently used pre- 
viously to the Conquest by the aborigines of Mexico and 
Central America as an ornament, was not at all an object 
of worship among them. Besides, there is a vast difference 
between the cross and the crucifix. What has been taken for 
the latter on sculptures like the " Palenque tablet," is merely 
the symbol of the " new fire," or close of a period of fifty-two 
years ; it is the fire-drill more or less ornamented.^ The 
names given to the cross which Ouetzalcohuatl is said to have 
"planted" according to Ixtlilxochitl, — " Tonaca-qua-huitl," or 
wood of the body (in the sense of life), with the other qualifi- 
cation of " Quauh-cahuiz-teotl-Chicahualiztcotl," wood of the 
god of time, of the strong god,^ — are terms which the early 

pp. 72-78, and of Ixtlilxochitl, Hist, de los CJiichimecos, Kingsborough, vol. ix. 
cap. i. pp. 205, 206. Sahagun, Hist. General, etc., vol. iii. cap. xxix. pp. 112, 113, 
and vol. i. pp. 243, 244, 257-259, is less tinged. 

1 Duran, Historia, etc., vol. ii. pp. 72, 73, is possibly the earliest author who 
connects Quetzalcohuatl with the Apostle St. Thomas. 

- Compare the Oxford Codex, Bologjia Codex, and Vienna Codex, in Kings- 
borough's Antiqicities of Mexico, vol. ii. The gradual transition from the fire- 
drill to a cross very similar to the one of Palenque, through mere ornamentation, 
is plainly visible. 

3 Hist, de los Chichimecos, Kingsborough, vol. ix. cap. i. pp. 205, 206. For the 
etymology of the words, see Molina, Vocabulario, ii. fol. 88, "quanitl," "arbol, 
madero o palo " ; fol. 12, "cauiti," "tiempo"; fol. 19, "chicactic," " chicanac," 
" cesarezia y fuerte, o persona anciana " ; fol. 149, " Tonacayo," " cuerpo humano 
a nuestra carne." According to the same author, i. fol. 32, " crucifixo " is called 
by the Indians by that name, and also " cruztitech mamagouhticac," and " Cruz," 
"quanitl nepanuihtoc." The first is derived, of course, from "Cruz," from 
"titech," fol. 113, and from " mama9oaltia," " crucificar o aspar a otro," fol. 51. 
It IS therefore the description of the crucifix of the Church. The second, 
from "quanitl," wood or tree, and "nepaniuhca," "castigar a otro con doblado 
castigo," fol. 68, a conception which has been imported since the Conquest. 
The adoration of the cross by the Indians of Mexico began at an early day, and 
spread with great rapidity. Compare Motolinia, Historia, etc., Trat. ii. cap. ix. 
pp. 137, 138. 

Later authors in Nahuatl have changed the word for cross, or crucifix. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 185 

missionaries framed to impress the signification of the cru- 
cifix upon the Indian mind.^ The proper word for cross, 
or crucifix, is simply colotzin, little scorpion {alacrancitd), and 
I have heard it with the addition of " Santa Cruz," often used 
in the district of Cholula by the aborigines. 

If now we eliminate these foreign elements, introduced by 
and since the Conquest, the remainder leaves Ouetzalcohuatl 
as a man of note, whose memory was afterwards connected 
with dim cosmological notions. The basis of the Nahuatl 
creed was not a "great spirit " ; that idea also filtered into it 
through Christian teachings. It was that " Tonaca-tecutli " 
and " Tonaca-cihuatl," the chief of "our body" and his wife, 
the woman of "our body," the life-giving pair, engendered 
four sons, who became the active agents of creation, while 
the parents themselves remained as " latent powers behind the 
throne." ^ These four gods were not all strictly symbohcal of 

Thus the Padre Ignacio de Parredes, Dodrina Breve, etc. (abstract made of his 
Catccismo Mexicano, and reprinted in 1809), renders "El persignum crucis " by 
" In Teoyotica Nemachiotiliztli," signitying " spiritual example," and uses the 
term " In Cruz." 

1 This is plainly stated by Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., vol. iii. lib. xvi. cap. 
xxvii. p. 202 : " A esta Cruz, como no le sabian el nombre, llamaron los Indios 
Tonacaquahuitl, que quiere decir madero, que da el sustento de nuestra vida ; 
tomada la etimologia del maiz, que llaman Tonacayutl, que quiere decir : Cosa de 
nuestra carne, como quien dice, la cosa, que alimenta nuestro cuerpo ; y dixeron 
verdad, porque par voluntad de Dios, que lo puso en sus cora9ones, entendieron, 
que aquella serial, era cosa gi-andiosa, y la commen9aron a tener en mucha 
revercncia." 

2 The first statements concerning Nahuatl mythology, with some degree of 
precision, are found in the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pintiiras (Anales del 
Museo), vol. ii. cap. i. p. 86: " Paresco que tenia un dios a que decian tonaca- 
tectli el qual tomo por muger a tonacaciguatl 6 por otro nombre cachequecalt, 
los quales se criaron y estovyeron siempre en el trezeno cielo de cuyo principio 
no se supo jamas syno de su estado y criacion que lui en el trezeno cielo. Este 
dios y diosa engendraron quatro hijos." There is no mention of a single su- 
preme being. Neither is any such belief mentioned by Motolinia, nor by 
Gomara, nor Sahagun. Even Tobar and Duran are silent on the subject. The 
Anales de Cnauhtitlan, p. 9, attribute the creation of the world to Quetzal- 
cohuatl, and on p. 15 make him direct his prayers to " Zitlalihue, Citlaltonac, 



1 86 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

the elements, though Ouetzalcohuatl represented the air or 
winds,^ but each was the tutelar deity of a particular tribe.^ 
Thus Tezcatlipoca was the chief god of Tezcuco,^ Huitzilo- 

Tonacacihuatl, Tonacateuhtli, Yeztlaquenqui, Tlallamanac, Tlallichcatl, que 
segun sabia y comprendia residian estas Deidades sobre nueve cielos Chiuchnan- 
chnopaniuhcan." There is nowhere any trace of monotheism, until \Ye come to 
Acosta, Historla N'attiral y Moral dc las Indias, i6oS, lib. v. cap. 3, p. 307. This 
is easily explained. As each tribe appeared with its tutelar deity at the head, 
this seemed to imply original monotheistic notions, and it was not noticed, 
after the first generation of Indians had passed away, that the tribal cult rested 
on an anterior one, whose basis was duality of sexes, and not a single individual 
power. Thus Tonacatecuhtli and Tonacacihuatl disappear the further we go 
in the century. The Sj>iegazione delle Tavole dd Codice Mexicano, in Kings- 
borough, vol. v., indicates the former idea of a man and wife, — the pair who 
gave life, but with variations. Mendieta, Historia Ecdcsiastica Indiana, lib. ii. 
cap. i. p. 77, calls the first two divinities Citlalatonac and Citlalicue, who appear 
to be identical with Tonacatecuhtli and Tonacacihuatl, for their names indicate 
respectively " body of the star " and " skirt of the star." The purest Indian 
conceptions of theogony, however, were preserved for us, as far as the Nahuatl 
are concerned, by Oviedo, Historia General, lib. xlii. cap. ii., iii., pp. 39-60. These 
are the famous interrogatories of Indians in the year 1538 for the purpose of 
ascertaining their creed. It results from these interrogatories that the original 
creative power is represented, not by one single power, but by a pair, — Fama- 
gostad or Tamagostad, and Cipactonal or Cipaltoval, — pp. 40, 41, 43, 44. The 
idea of a supreme deity called " Tloque Nahuaque Ipalnemohuani " is conveyed 
by Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., vol. ii. lib. vi. cap. viii. p. 21, but he speaks, not 
of one god, but of supreme gods, using the word as a collective name. " No es 
de menos consideracion, y advertencia saber, que esta condicion, yatributo, que 
los antiguos atribuyeron a los Dioses Penates, estos nuestros Occidentales dieron 
a los que tuvieron por Dioses supremos, llamandolos Tloquenahuaque, que 
quiere decir, junto, 6 par de quien esta el ser de todas las cosas, y tambien le 
llamaban Ypalnemohualoni, que quien decir, por quien vivimos y somos." The 
idea of one single god is first found in Ixtlilxochitl, Historia dc los Chichimecos, 
cap. i. p. 205, and he has evidently distorted and disfigured Torquemada, to 
whose work he subsequently refers. 

1 We find among the Nahuatl of Nicaragua a god of the winds called 
" Chiqonaut y Hecat " (Chiconahui-ehecatl, Nine Winds). Oviedo, Hist. General, 
etc., lib. xlii. cap. iii. p. 52. In regard to Quetzalcohuatl the fact is too frequently 
asserted to need quotations. 

- Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., lib. vi. cap. vii. p. 20, intimates as much, but 
his predecessor Mendieta is very positive, Hist. Ecclesidstica, lib. ii. cap. x. 
pp. 91, 92. 

3 Mendieta, Historia Ecclesidstica, lib. ii. cap. x. p. 91. Juan Bautista Pomar, 
Relacion de Tezcuco, MSS. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 187 

pochtli that of Mexico,^ Camaxtli the god of Tlaxcala,^ and 
Ouetzalcohuatl the principal divinity of Cholula.^ Further- 
more, all of them, and not the last one only, appear in native 
tradition as historical personages ; ^ and in that respect Que- 

1 This is too well known to require any quotations. It was recognized at an 
early day, and even the Hist, de los Mexicaiios por siis Finhiras, cap. i. p. 85, 
mentions it. 

2 Motolinia, Historia, etc., Trat. i. cap. x. p. 59. Id., Libra de Oro, MS., cap. 
xxvii. p. 97. Tobar, Codicc Ramirez, does not speak of it, but Duran, Historia de 
las Yndias, etc., vol. ii. cap. Ixxxv. pp. 126, 127, is the more positive about the 
fact. Diego Mufioz Camargo, Histoire de la RepiMique de Tlaxcallan (French 
translation in Noiiveiies Annales dcs Voyages, 1843, 'vols, xcviii., xcix.), pp. 143, 146. 
Finally I refer to Mendieta, Hist. Ecclesidstica, lib. ii. cap. x. p. 91, cap. xvii. 
p. 103 ; and to his copyist, Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., lib. ili. cap. ix. pp. 258, 
259, cap. xii. pp. 265, 266 ; lib. x. cap. xxxv. pp. 299, 300. 

3 Andres de Tapia, Relacion sobre la Conqjdsta, etc., p. 574 ; El Conquistador 
Anoiiimo, p. 385. 

* There is not one of these four deities who is not declared to have been for- 
merly a human being, by some author, or in some tradition. In regard to Tezca- 
tlipoca we have the statements of Camargo, Histoire de la Rep. de Tlaxcallan, pp- 
143. 146: "On regarda aussi comme des dieux Camaxtli et Tezcatlipuca qui 
vinrent de I'occident ; mais ces pretendus dieux etaient sans doute des enchanteurs 
diaboliques et possedes du demon, qui pervertirent toutes ces pations." Sahagun, 
lib. i. cap. iii. p. 2, lib. iii. cap. ii. pp. 243, 244, makes of him an invisible god, 
but also a medicine man. Id. Historia, cap. iv., v., vi., vii., etc., pp. 245, 
etc. Very positively speaks Duran, Historia, etc., vol. ii. cap. Ixxix. p. 75: 
" Tezcatlipoca el qual finjiendo ser baxado del cielo para aquel efecto." Men- 
dista, Hist. Ecclesidstica, lib. ii. cap. x. p. 91 : " Y estos sin duda fueron hombres 
famosos que hizieron algunas hazanas senaladas 6 inventaron cosas nuevas en 

favor y utilidad de la republica Fueron grandes y esforzados capitanes." 

This he applies to all four divinities mentioned. Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., 
lib. vi. cap. vii. p. 20, etc. The Anales de Cuauhtitla^t, pp. 17, 18, also intimate 
that Tezcatlipoca had been a man. In regard to the three others, Huitzilopochtli 
and Camaxtli are often identified ; at all events they are represented as conspicu- 
ous tribal leaders. The same is true of Quetzalcohuatl himself. 

But I wish to mention here that the two most southerly branches of the 
Nahuatl, both separated from the main stock by tribes speaking a different 
language, the Pipiles of Honduras, and the Niquiras of Nicaragua, had no 
knowledge of any of the four divinities named, except of Quetzalcohuatl, whom 
the former are said to have worshipped. A. von Frantzius, San Salvador iin 
Honduras im Jahre 1576, 1873, pp. 41-44 (German translation of the Report 
of Diego Garcia de Palacio). It is doubtful if the Nicaragua Indians knew of 
Quetzalcohuatl. 



1 88 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

tzalcohuatl does not form the exception which has been 
supposed. 

It is hardly to be beUeved that this mythological system 
(the life-giving pair excepted) was first framed by Indians, 
who invented the respective personal names, and that after- 
wards the individuals lived who personify the same gods on 
earth. Thus the struggle between Tezcatlipoca and Quetzal- 
cohuatl, expressed by their successive assumption of the role 
of sun in a violent manner, was not re-enacted on earth, 
but, on the contrary, it was the struggle on earth which was 
symbolized subsequently by what came to pass in the higher 
world. ^ Accordingly, I believe that the four principal gods 
were deified men, whose lives and actions became mixed up 
with the vague ideas of natural forces and phenomena, which 
form the only basis for Mexican theogony ; in other words, 
that the historical personages preceded, and were the bases 
of, the mythological ideas.^ 

Having thus attempted to establish that Ouetzalcohuatl 
was originally an historical personage, there remains to be 
considered who he was, whence he came, and what actions 
he actually performed. In regard to his origin we have the 
following statements: — 

I. That he was the son of Camaxtli, tutelar deity of Tlax- 
cala, who himself appears also to have been a human being. 

^ Compare the tales about this struggle, as told by Sahagun, Historia, etc., lib. 
iii. cap. iv. to vii., and principally by Torquemada, ]\Tonarchia, etc., lib. iii. cap. 
vii. pp. 254-256, lib. vi. cap. vii. p. 20, cap. xxiv. pp. 4S-50, etc. 

2 Among the Indians it is a very easy thing to become deified. The develop- 
ment of the Montezuma myth among the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico is an 
instance of this. This story I have already mentioned in my " Report on the 
Ruins of the Pueblo of Pecos" {Papers of the ArchcEological Institute of America, 
vol. i. pp. Ill, 112). Subsequent studies among the Q'ueres Indians, yet unpub- 
lished, have fully confirmed the views there expressed. Compare also the story 
of Hiawatha, or Ha-yo-went'-ha, among the Iroquois, L. H. Morgan, Ancient 
Society, p. 127, and their beliefs about George Washington as related by the 
same author, League of the Iroquois, pp. 178, 179. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 189 

2. That he was the son of one of the chiefs at the former 
home of the aborigines, and possibly born outside of Mexico, 
who emigrated into that country. 

3. That he was a Toltec, and as such a native of Mexico. 

4. That he preceded the Toltecs, coming into Mexico from 
some distant land. 

5. That he came into the country from parts unknown, 
while the Toltecs still existed. 

6. That he came into Mexico from Yucatan. 

If the Ce-acatl of the Codex Zumarraga is the "second 
Quetzalcohuatl " of later documents, then the tradition that he 
was a son of Camaxtli gains in prominence, since it is also 
told by Motolinia, and reappears as a tribal claim or boast 
on the part of the Tlaxcaltecos. But this latter circum- 
stance impairs the value of the tradition, inasmuch as it pos- 
sibly may have been derived from Tlaxcala,^ as appears to 
have been the case with Motolinia. Still there is a marked 
difference between Motolinia and Diego Munoz Camargo, the 
Tlaxcaltecan interpreter and chronicler. The latter makes 
Quetzalcohuatl a son of a woman of Teohuiznahuac, and of 
Mixcohuatl Amacohtle, adding, "For that reason I have stated 
above that he had come from the North and from Panuco to 
Tollantzinco and Tula, where he was regarded as a god." ^ 
There is more analogy between Camargo and Torquemada, 

1 There can hardly be any doubt as to the identity of Ceacatl with the second 
Quetzalcohuatl. The Anales de Citmihtitlan, p. 13, call him " Tlamacazqui ce acatl 
Quetzalcoatl," and p. 15, " Topiltzin ce acatl Quetzalcoatl." As Motolinia spent 
most of his early years in Mexico at Huexotzinco, where Camaxtli was wor- 
shipped in the same manner as at Tlaxcala itself, it is only natural that he 
should have collected and repeated the traditions and tales of that tribe in 
preference to others. 

2 Histoh-e de la Republique de Tlaxcallan, p. 145. This is also intimated by 
the Anales de Cuauhtitlaii, pp. 14, 15 : " 12 cafias, 13 pedernales, i cana, 2 cone- 
jos. En este aiio llego Quetzalcoatl a Tulantzinco, y a los cuatro de su perman- 
nencia formo casa de quietud y descanso, y habitaciones de tablas de madera. 
Vino a salir en Cuextlan, pasando el rio por medio de balsas." 



](jO ARCIfyPlOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

aiul I liavc f;j()()(l reasons for siipp()sin<j^ lliat llic latter author 
lias, in iii.any instances, literally copied the former.' ICvcn if 
we add to this the assertion of Motolinfa, that Qnctzalcohuatl 
settled also at Tlaxcallan, nothing positive is suggested except 
the supposition that Tlaxcallon and Cholollan may originally 
have been i)eopled by one stock. 

That he was the son of one of the chiefs of Chicomoztoc 
does not necessarily imply that he was lK)rn outside of the 
present territory of Mexico. It is, as yet, impossible to lo- 
cate C'hiconio/.toc dcnnilivcly. While many circumstances 
j)()int to its having l^een far to the north, there may be (piite 
as much evidence to the contrary. Thus the Codex Zumar- 
raga mentions that Quetzalcohuatl was brought, as a tribal 
idol, not from the seven caves, but from A/llan and Culhua- 
can, whitdi it places at a still greater distance from Mexico.'^ 

The notion that Quetzalcohuatl was a Toltec is supported 

by,- 

1. The Codex Zumarraga, which calls him a chief of Tula. 

2. J5y Motolinfa. 

3. l^y the " Anales de ("uaiihlitlan." 

4. Hy the statements of Sahagun. 

5. IJy Camargo in part. 

The great difficulty in this case consists in ascertaining 

1 (!()ini)ari' ///>/. dr '/7ii.\i<)//,ni, ])|). 135-137, and pp. 141-143, with Monnrchia, 
etc., vol. i. jip. 257-260. C!;uuaig() was a contemporary of 'Porqucmada's early 
days. lie a[)pcar.s in the royal Ccklula confirming the franchises of Tlaxcala 
from May 20, 15S5, as interpreter, hifonnaciou dc Tlaxcala, p. 102; and again in 
the Morcd (k CiMiilitlautziiia\ ]\\w i.|, 1587, MSS. 

- Hisl. <fr los Mexicanos por sm J'infiiras, caj). 9-II, pp. 91-93. It refers to 
Honir liidijii paintings. The Cnadro histdrico-gcroglijico dc la /Wcs^^riiiacion de las 
Tri/nh Azfccas, whose original is in llie National Museum at Mexico, and which 
is rejirocluced in Garcia y Cubas's At/as ATcxicano, begins tlicse wanderings 
with " Coloacan,"fol. i. No. i, and fol. ii. (c. c.). So Sahagun, Ilistoria General, 
etc., lib. X. cap. xxix. pp. 145, 146, also mentions a " Culhoacan " far to the west. 
It would be impossible to cpiote here all that has been said and written about 
the presumable geographical sites of both Culhuacan and Chicomoztoc. 



STc//)//':s .uioi/r cjioiaila and its vicim r\ . 191 

wlu) the Toltccs tlu-nisi-lvcs were. All wc can -allu r ahoiil: 
Ihciii with safety is, that tlu7 vvcre a sedentary Indian slock, 
which at some reniole period of lime settled in poi lions ol 
Central Mexico, as for instance at 'Tnla, 'ruUant/inco, Teoli- 
hiiacan, and peiliaps Ciiolnla.' Nolhin- certain is known of 
their languaj^e, and it nnist not ])c; overlooked Ihal llu- so- 
called Tollec names menlioned in llu; idironieles are in llu- 
Nahuatl idiom, wilh a few exceptions, whose etymology and 
interpretation are yet donblfnl. Conspicnons anion?;- these 
are the words 'roltccall, Tii'la or Tollaii, and Clioliild or 
ClioloHdii. NolhiiiL!; positive can be ascerlaiiu'd hom older 
sources in regard to a Toltec language.- 'I'he (act that llu: 
names of i)ersons and places are generally Nahuatl is not 
decisive, since the same: thing occurs whenever an Indian 
chronieh-r belonging lo Ihat slock has wrillen about tribes 
using" a different language. 1 refi-r to Tezozomoc in rc\gard 

1 All the nuUiors .ngrce in stating th.it, at sonic lime, ( IidIiiIi w.is a 'I'oltcc set- 
tlement. Camargo alone is not ciuite clear about il, :iii<l l)ni:in, Ifistoria tid las 
Yndias, etc., vol. ii. cap. Ixxix. pp. 73-77, leads to the inference Ihat the Toltccs 
were only a band of missionaries, disciples of Quctzalcohuall, whose principal 
home was Cholnla. He has been followed in part by Torqucmada, Afoiiair/iln, 
etc., lib. iii. cap. vii. p. 255, and by Orcgoria Oarcia, Orii^m dc los /in/ids dc el 
Nuevo Alundo, 2d edition, 1729, lib. iv. cap. xxiv. p. 262. (This slatemcnl, liow- 
evcr, is not from (h(> learned father himself, but from his editor, ilarcia. (Nun- 
pare the first edition, of 1(106.) 

- Sahagtni, llisloriti (.iriwral, etc., lib. x. cap. xxix. vol. iii. p. 113: " Mslos dichos 
Tnltccas eran ladinos en l:i lengua mcxicana, auncpic no l:i li:dil;ili;in Ian pcrfrcta- 
mente como ahora se nsa." But on p. 144 he makes the distinction between the 
"Tnliccas, y los Mexicanos 6 Nahoas y todos los otros." Ixtlilxochill, Qiiiiifa 
Kclacion, dc Nopal/zin, y cl Discurso dc su vida y nmcrti\ p. 345 (Kingsborough, 
vol. ix.), says the Nahuatl is a mixture of Tultcco with Chichimcco. But Saha- 
gun (sec above) affirms that the Toltccs were also Chichimccas 1 In regard to the 
latter, I cannot recognize in them a definite tribe, but rather an appellative used 
by the Nahuatl to designate dexterous and brave warriors and hunters. The 
confusion .about them is such that nothing else can be derived from the state- 
ments. The singular fact remains that the word Toltecatl has no positive ety- 
mology in the Nahuatl idiom, — neither has the word Tollaiu The latter is also 
written Tollam, and has a susjiicious analogy with the Ttdoom, Talooni, of tlie 
Maya. I state this as a subject of inquiry in future investigations. 



192 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

to Michhuacan,^ and to Ixtlilxochitl in the case of the Oto- 
mites.^ 

Still, the connection of Ouetzalcohuatl with the Toltecs is 
so strongly insisted upon, that it cannot be discarded for the 
simple reason that we fail to discover exactly who the Toltecs 
were. Then comes the other statement, by IxtHlxochitl, that 
he even preceded the Toltecs themselves, and was a con- 
temporary of tribes called Olvieca and Xicalanca, — though 
probably not a native of Mexico.^ Ixtlilxochitl is always a 
very suspicious authority, not because he is more confused 
than any other Indian writer, but because he wrote for an 
interested object, and with the view of sustaining tribal 
claims in the eyes of the Spanish government. In the case 
of Ouetzalcohuatl, however, his statement is exempt from this 
reproach, for he had no interest in painting for us a character 
decorated with the attributes of a Christian missionary, at 
work among tribes which had no connection with those whose 
genealogy he subsequently traces. That genealogy begins 
with the Toltecs, and the latter are not represented as de- 
scended from the people whom Quetzalcohuatl is said to have 
taught. While, therefore, this attempt at Christianizing him 
appears as a growth of the sixteenth century, among the 
Indians themselves, this connection of him with a pre-Toltec 
settlement deserves careful consideration. For the present I 
can only mention it, reserving it for future investigations. 

It is chiefly Torquemada who has propagated the idea that 
Ouetzalcohuatl came into Mexico from some distant land, and 
consequently as a foreigner, while the Toltecs were still in oc- 
cupation of the country. I have already stated that Camargo 

1 Cronica Mexkana, cap. Ixiv. p. 476. The name Michhuacan is itself Na- 
huatl, and not Tarasca. 

■' Hist des Chichimiqiies, etc., cap. xiv. pp. 92, 93, 99, etc. 

3 Ibid., cap. i. pp. 4 to 7, and Kingsborougli, vol. ix. pp. 205, 206; also in 
Sic7)iaria Rdacion de la Historia General, etc., p. 459, same volume. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 193 

may have been one of his authorities ; but it is evident that 
he also drew largely from authors like Tobar and Duran, or 
at least from material similar to theirs.^ There is in his story 
nothing, except the connection with the Toltecs, that can 
safely be regarded as of historical value, or even as of strictly 
aboriginal derivation, unless the tale be so construed as to im- 
ply that Quetzalcohuatl was a native of a former home of the 
tribes, lying outside of Mexico. The Yucatecan tradition, as 
given by Landa, merely refers to a visit of Quetzalcohuatl to 
that peninsula ; for he says that he came from the west, or the 
direction of Mexico, and that " he returned to Mexico by the 
same road," or, according to another version, " he ascended to 
heaven," 2 so that his appearance in Mexico cannot have been 
subsequent to a supposed visit to Yucatan. The Quiche 
tradition I have quoted for its general resemblance to the the- 
ogonies of Nahuatl origin, and not because I regard such simi- 
larities as implying any relationship between the two tribes. 

So too, we must eliminate the notion of the foreign birth 
of Quetzalcohuatl, since that would imply that he belonged 
to another race. This leaves him a prominent gifted Indian 
leader, who certainly preceded the coming of those Nahuatl 
tribes that subsequently formed the valley confederacy, as 
well as that of the later tribe of Tlaxcallan, The claim to 
his origin accordingly rests between the so-called Toltecs on 
one side, and the Olmeca and Xicalanca on the other. 

Little can be gathered from the tales about the deeds attrib- 
uted to him that proves of any historical value, except his con- 
nection with Tula and Cholula. Ev^en the statement of his 
long residence at Tollan becomes somewhat liable to suspi- 

1 MonarcJiia, etc., lib, iii. cap. vii. p. 255, to be compared with Codice Ramirez, 
pp. 81, 82, but particularly with Hist, de las Yndias, etc., vol. ii. pp. 73 to ']']. 

^ Relacion des Chases de Yucatan, p. 29S. ' The Iroquois have a similar tradi- 
tion concerning Hiawatha. Morgan, Ancient Society, p. 127. He ascended to 
heaven in a white canoe. 

13 



194 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

cion from the fact that Chokila was called Tollan CJwlollan, or 
Tollain CJwlollam, even after the Conquest.^ However, I will 
not dispute about what can be neither proved nor disproved. 

If the two places are distinct, as may be inferred, then 
Ouetzalcohuatl appears at the former as a great " medicine- 
man " ;^ at the latter, more in the light of a " sachem." ^ The 

1 Rojas, Relacion de Cholida, MS., § 13 : "A esta ciudad (a quien clio titulo D. 
Luis de Velasco, virey que fue desta Nueva Espafia, por su carta misiva) Uaman 
los Indios Tullam Cholullam Tlachiuh altepetl, y tambien pronuncian Tollam 
Cholollam, que Tullam significa congregacion de oficiales de diferentes oficios, 
porque dicen que antiguamente en sola esta ciudad se usaba hacer jarros, ollas, 
escudillas, sogas, zapatos, y otros oficios que les eran necesarios ; y de aqui 
dicen los Indios antiguos que los demas pueblos de la comarca comenzaron a 
tomar y aprender los oficios : y porque en la lengua mexicana toltecatl quien 
decir oficial, se llamo Tullam, que como esta dicho quiere decir congregacion 
de muchos oficios. Esto dicen los Indios antiguos y curiosos, aunque no falta 
quien dice que Tullam significa multitud de gente congregada en uno, asimilitud 
del tule, que es la enca yerba, y no parece ir fuera de camino, porque las armas 
de esta ciudad son una mata espesa de tule y un cerro con una tromijeta encima. 
Otros dicen que porque habia un prado de tulle junto adonde edificaron el 
cerro (de que adelante se dira) cuando poblaron, lo ponen por armas, y tambien 
dicen los Indios que los fundadores desta ciudad vinieron de un pueblo que se 
llama Tullam, del cual por ser muy lejos y haber mucho tiempo, no se tiene 
noticia, y que de camino fundaron a Tullam, 12 leguas de Mexico, y a Tullantzin- 
co, tambien cerca de Mexico, y que vinieron a parar a este pueblo, y tambien lo 
llamaron Tullam, y esta opinion es la mas verosimil de todas, por ser cosa usada 
de todas las naciones poner el nombre de su patria al pueblo que fundan, y espe- 
cialmente lo hacen los Espafioles en las Indias. Llamanla tambien Cholollam, 
porque la tierra donde esta ciudad esta fundada dicen se 11am aba asi antigua- 
mente cuando ellos vinieron a poblar, y en la lengua mexicana Choloan quiere 
decir huir, y Choloani huidor ; y entiendese que este nombre les pusieron los 
comarcanos, como advenedizos y huidores du su tierra. Tlachiuh altepetl quiere 
decir hecho a mano, como lo es uno que esta en esta ciudad, segun se dira 
adelante." In addition to the word " Cholollan " or " Cholollam," which is fre- 
quently met with in documents of the sixteenth century, the Anales die Cuauh- 
titlan, p. 40, and Manuel de los Santos y Salazar, Comptlto Cronologico de los Indios 
Mexicanos, MS., " De los Segundos que vinieron a esta Nueua Espafia," use 
" Choloyan." At Cholula itself I heard even " Acholoayan." 

'■^ Sahagun, Historia General, etc., lib. iii. cap. iii. vol. i. p. 243, cap. v. p. 24S ; 
lib. X. cap. xxix. vol. iii. p. 112. The Anales de Ctcatihtitlan, p. 13, call him even 
a "Tlamacazqui." This word, commonly translated by " priest," is derived from 
Tlama, "medico 6 curujano." Molina, Vocabulario, ii. fol. 125. 

2 Rojas, Relacion de Choliila, MS., § 14. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 195 

Codex Zumarraga, however, makes of Ce-acatl a great warrior, 
or war-chief.i Neither of the three offices is incompatible 
with the two others. But we feel warranted in suggesting 
that his career began in the present State of Hidalgo, and 
that there he became the leader of a migration. His first 
stay was at Tula and Tulantzinco, two pueblos lying almost 
on the same meridian,^ and from the outset he moved south- 
ward. But there are two versions as to his route. The ear- 
liest, that of the Codex Zumarraga, supported by Motolini'a 
and Camargo, makes him travel to Cholula by the way of 
Tlaxcala,3 and finally settle at the former place. Subsequently 
he travels thence to Cozcatlan in the southeast corner of the 
State of Puebla. The later reports, contained in the annals of 
Cuauhtitlan, and especially in Sahagun, and which are tacitly 
acknowledged by Duran, represent this journey as a flight by 
a somewhat different route. The itinerary preserved by Sa- 
hagun names the following places, after leaving Tula : Cuauh- 
titlan, Cuahpa, the Cumbre between the two volcanoes,* and 
finally Tecamachalco. Thence he moved towards Tlapallan, 
which place Sahagun locates on the sea-coast. In order to 
reach Tecamachalco from the Cumbre, he must have passed 
through Cholula ; but the Franciscan chronicler does not 
mention that name. Both versions therefore in the main 
agree, and even Ixtlilxochitl concurs in stating, that Ouetzal- 
cohuatl's principal stay was at Cholula, whence he went to 
the eastward; that is, in the direction in which Tecamachalco 
and Cozcatlan lie from Cholula. 

1 Hist, de los Mexicanos por stis Pinhiras, cap. viii. p. 91. 

2 Both places are in the State of Hidalgo. 

3 Motolinia, Libra de Oro, cap. xxv. p. 130 : « Y salio a edificar las provincias 
de Tlaxcalla, Huexucinco, Cholollan." 

* The description is very positive. Hist. General, etc., lib. iii. cap. xiv. vol. i. 
p. 258 : " Yendose de camino Quetzalcoatl, mas adelante al pasar entre las dos 
Sierras del Volcan y la Sierra nevada." 



196 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 

Tlio Codox ZuniariM;;-;!. ?iIotolinui. and oven Imwv Cloron- 
inio ilo Mcniliota.' followini;- him, attiibuto tho toundation ot 
Cholula to Ouet/talcoluuitl. Sahaguu, as above stated, does 
not mention the place, but the southerly migration of the in- 
habitants of Tulla. to which he so minutely refers, led them, 
according to his itinemry, dirooily to the site. The statement 
that he founded Chohila is also made by Tapia and Rojas. 
But all these stories are not very clearly told, and the authori- 
ties are not always consistent with thcmsehes. It" new we 
consivler that Camargo as well as Ixtliixoehiti, two authore 
who have little if anything in common, both assert that Cho- 
lula was peopled when Ouetzalcohuatl came, the suggestioa 
that the Olmeca and Xicalanca were its original settlers be- 
comes a subject for future historical investigation. 1-\m- the 
present, I can only refer to a few points bearing upon it. 

Camargo gives ns an itinerary of these two tribes. They 
descended through the valley of I^lcxico until they came south 
of the Popocatepetl at Tochirailee. thenee moved up north- 
ward, hugging the eastern j^lopes of both volcanoes, passing 
Calpan. lluexotzinco, and finally settling on the present ter- 
ritory of Tlaxcala ; Santa Maria Natfvitas, a village on the 
southern slope of the Tlaxcaltecan hills and the northern 
bank of the Rio Atoyac. being their most southerly settle- 
ment.^ Thus they went completely around the tribal range 
of diolula. as it was in t 5 uv It is dilTicult to imagine why 
they should have taken such a rente, leaving the fertile and 
attractive plain untouched, which was of easier access to 
them than the region of Tlaxcala. unless we suppose that 
Cholula was then alrcadv occupied. 

Motolinfa gives another version of the settlements of the 

* Nistona EiXtfShisthM ImiiitNa^ lib, ii. cap, vii. p. 86. 

* f>\t^f»t«^ ttf //tsfi*n\} AftxiatHif, etc.. pp. i^>. 14. copied by Torqucm.id.t. 
MoNKtrcMii, etc., lib. iii. cap. viii. p. 257, 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND JTS VICINTTY. 197 

Olmeca and Xicalanca, stating that they occupied the site 
where the city of Puebla now stands/ perhaps intending at the 
same time to imply that Cholula was included in that estab- 
lishment. Finally, Ixtlilxochitl makes them land on the Gulf 
coast, and settle on the banks of the Rio Atoyac, before the 
arrival of Ouetzalcohuatl, and long previous to the coming of 
the Toltecs, — mentioning Cholula as an Olmec, or Xicalanca 
pueblo.^ It is clear that no certainty can be attained from 
such reports as these. Possibly the least unsafe surmise may 
be, that a settlement, perhaps of Olmeca, existed at Cholula 
when Quetzalcohuatl reached it, who was the leader, or one of 
the leaders, of an Indian tribe of sedentary character and cus- 
toms. That tribe or band may have been driven from Tula 
by intertribal warfare among people of the same linguistic 
stock,'^ before its settlement at Cholula. If there were any 
inhabitants in that region previously, the mild and peaceable 
character attributed to Quetzalcohuatl would seem to imply 
that the two stocks intermingled without previous hostilities. 
This may have been owing to the circumstance that the nu- 
merical power was not on the side of the new-comers. If Cho- 
lula was inhabited previous to the coming of Quetzalcohuatl, 
then the traditions about his life and acts there point to the 
natural results of the intermingling of a group of village In- 
dians of a higher order settling among a tribe in a lower stage 
of culture. 

The beneficial effects of the coming of Quetzalcohuatl are 

1 Historia, etc., Epistola Proemial, p, 7. Also Gomara, Scgunda Parte de la 
CrSnica, etc., p. 432; but he only mentions " Ulniecatlli," and makes " Xica- 
lancatlh " settle on the coast. 

'^ Hist, de los Chichhnecos (Kingsborough, vol. i.x.), cap. i. pp. 205, 206. Su- 
maria Relacion de la Historia General, etc., p. 459. 

8 This is clearly indicated by the Historia de los Mexicanos por sns Pinturas, 
cap. viii. p. 91 ; by Sahagiin, Historia General, etc., lib. x. cap. x.^ix. vol. iii. p. 113. 
Anales de Ctiau/ititlan, p. 17. Torquemada, MonarcMa, etc., lib. iii. cap. vii. pp. 
255, 256 ; lib. vi. cap. vii. p. 20, etc. 



198 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

stated to have been the introduction, or more likely the im- 
provement, of the arts of pottery, of weaving, of stonework, 
and of feather-work, the organization of government after a 
higher type, and the introduction of a mode of worship free 
from human sacrifice.^ 

All this progress would naturally result from the admixture 
of a higher class of sedentary Indians with those of a lower 
grade, except only the last-named feature, the abolition of 
human sacrifice.^ 

Neither the Codex Zumarraga, nor Motolim'a, nor the 
Cuauhtitlan manuscript (as far as I have it), mentions this 
humane disposition ; Tapia and Sahagun, however, are very 
positive about it. Nevertheless it is equally certain that, at 
the time of the Conquest, the idol Quetzalcohuatl was wor- 
shipped by the sacriiice of a man, whose flesh was afterwards 
cooked and eaten !^ Still, this is not absolute proof that the 
historical personage may not have been himself opposed to 
such atrocities, and it is not impossible that his more humane 
views were the cause of the strife which drove him from Tula. 
Such a strife, it appears, continued to follow him even to Cho- 
lula,* for all the authorities are unanimous in assigning to 
the close of his earthly career another locality, namely, the 
mythical land of Tlapallan. 

1 Motolinia, Historia, etc., Epistola Proemial, p. 10. Anales de Cttauhtitlan, 
pp. 14, 15, 16. Sahagun, Historia General, etc., lib. iii. cap. iii. vol. i. pp. 243, 244; 
lib. X. cap. xxix. vol. iii. pp. 112, 113. Tapia, Relacion, etc., p. 574. Rojas, Relacioti, 
etc., MS., § 14. Tobar, Codice Ramirez, pp. 81, 82. Duran, Historia, etc., vol. ii. 
cap. Ixxix. pp. 72-77. Mei\6\Qt2i, Historia Ecclesidstiea, lib. ii. cap. vii. p. 86; 
cap. X. p. 92 ; cap. xiv. pp. 97, 98. 

2 The Anales de Cuaithtitlan, p. 26, even say: "Sin embargo de que algunos 
ancianos aseguran que esta inhumanidad se practicaba ya desde el tiempo del otro 
Quetzalcoatl, llamatlo Ce-acatl." This looks like attributing to Quetzalcohuatl 
the introduction of these sacrifices. 

^ Tobar, Codiec Ramirez, cap. iv. p. 1 18. Y)\\xk\\, Historia de los Yndias, vol. ii. 
cap. Ixxxiv. p. 121. 

* This story is related by Torquemada, Rlona^-chia, etc., lib. iii. cap. vii. pp. 
255, 256. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 199 

I do not feel justified in speculating upon the whereabouts 
of Tlapallan,^ and will only say that most of the authorities 
place it on the sea-coast, and generally on the Gulf of Mexico. 
But the Zumarraga manuscript and the Cuauhtitlan annals 
make him die there, and Motolinia himself is silent as to his 
departure by sea. That story is told in full, first by Saha- 
gun, Duran, and Tobar. 

It is very probable that the uncertainty about the close of 
his life had contributed greatly towards his deification. Of 
the latter there is no doubt, and it is equally clear that he 
was worshipped as God of the Air or Wind. Why he should 
have been chosen for that role is a subject open to wide specu- 
lations, which are beyond the domain of history. Still, to one 
who, like myself, has watched for some time the atmospheric 
phenomena at Cholula, one slight observation may perhaps 
be permitted. 

In the first place, it is not the damaging wind-storm, the 
tremendous hurricane, which Quetzalcohuatl is made to repre- 
sent, but the beneficial rain-winds, " which sweep the path 
for the rain-clouds," upon whose timely descent so much of 
the future of the horticultural Indian depends. These clouds, 
as I have already said, arise in a semicircle along the great 
mountain peaks, from the Malinche to the Popocatepetl, en- 
compassing those portions of the horizon whence, according 
to either version above related, Quetzalcohuatl descended to- 
wards Cholula. May there not, therefore, be some natural 
connection between the tradition and the physical phenomena 
related ? 

The influence which Quetzalcohuatl is represented as hav- 

1 Without attaching any importance to it, I will suggest that Tlapallan might 
be derived from Tlapalli, " color para pintar, 6 cosa tefiida." Molina, Vocabu- 
lario, ii. fol. 130. It would then mean the " land of paint." Such a designation 
might imply vegetable as well as mineral paints, because the Indians used both. 
But the A/tales de Cuauhtitlan give other names besides (p. 21). 



200 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

ing exercised on the tribe of Cholula is such as would natu- 
rally spring from Indians of the highest class, both in respect 
to habits and to social organization. In religion, the worship 
of his person finally became the leading feature, making him 
the tutelar deity of Cholula. 

Whatever changes the immigration, as whose central figure 
Ouetzalcohuatl stands, may have wrought, these were perhaps 
not obliterated, though they may have been materially im- 
paired, by subsequent events previous to the Conquest. Of 
such later changes there are distinct traces. 

Camargo asserts that the Cholullans, Huexotzincas, and 
TIaxcallans "were all of the same race and of the same fam- 
ily." 1 It is certain that, at the time of the Conquest, they 
all spoke the Nahuatl language. But the coming of the 
Nahuatl tribes is generally admitted to have been the last 
"irruption" of Indians into that part of Mexico comprising 
the present States of Puebla and Tlaxcala,^ and the fact that 
their language prevailed at the time of the Conquest certainly 
supports this view, although it does not make it absolutely 
certain. There exist various versions of this coming of the 
Nahuatl, but the earliest ones are almost hopelessly confused. 
Motolinia briefly states that the Tlaxcaltecos came from the 
northwest.^ Tobar, however, relates that, when they reached 

1 Hist, de la Repiiblique de Tlaxcallan, p. 1S4. 

2 The Chichimecas are commonly regarded as having preceded the Nahuatl. 
But I fail to discover in this word anything more than a general term, a surname 
or a nickname. While the appellatives Olmecatl, Toltecatl, Otomitl, Nahuatl, 
define linguistic stocks or specific tribes, Chichimecatl is indiscriminately made 
to signify a savage, a good hunter, or a brave warrior. I therefore cannot recog- 
nize a Chichimecan period in ancient Mexico. The Nahuatl of Tlaxcala them- 
selves are also called Chichimecos, or Teochichimecos. Torquemada, Monar- 
chia, etc., lib. i. cap. xiii. p. 36; lib. iii. cap. ix., x., xi., xii., xiii., pp. 258 to 269. 
Sahagun, Hist. General, etc., lib. x. cap. xxix. vol. iii. pp. 1 15-120, 147, even includes 
the Toltecs among the Chichimecos. At the time of the Conquest, the Northern 
tribes, on account of their more roving character, were also called Chichimecos 
by the Mexicans, irrespective of their language. 

8 Hisioria, etc., Epist. Proemial, p. 11. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 20I 

the lands east of the volcanoes, they found them occupied by 
o-iants. These they exterminated, and took possession of the 
country, Duran is still more detailed. He not only mentions 
the o-iants as occupying Tlaxcala and Cholula together with 
the site of Puebla, but says the Cholultecas exterminated 
them, and that they were called " Ouiname." In another 
place he intimates that these giants had built the so-called 
"Pyramid" of Cholula, which Sahagun positively affirms, stat- 
ing also that the Toltecs were of more than ordinary size. 
All this tends to show that the Nahuatl, when they immi- 
grated into the present State of Puebla by way of Tlaxcala, 
overthrew a Toltec tribe then occupying Cholula.^ In this 



1 Early mention of these giants is found in the Andes de Cttmihfitlan, p. 24, 
where "los barbaros Tlatlatecollo, de Cuextlampa quizaco," are noticed. Still 
they are not positively called giants. An earlier notice of them, as yet unprinted, 
is found in the MS. of Motolinia, Libra de Oro, cap. xxviii.: " El segundo sol dicen 
nahui ocelotl ; perecio cayendo el cielo sobre la gente y los mato a todos, y cuen- 
tan que en aquella edad y sol segundo fueron los gigantes, y que de aquellos son 
los grandes huesos que dije que ahora se hallan en las minas y en otras partes 
debajo de la tierra." This agrees with the Hist, de los Mexicanos por sus Pintiiras, 
cap. iii. p. 87, cap. iv, p. 88, in substance, though not precisely, — whereas it is 
almost literally contained in Gomara, Seg. Parte de la Cronica, etc., p. 431. The 
earliest connection of the tale with Cholula is probably by Fray Pedro de los 
Rios in 1566, as reported in the Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, 
Kingsb. vol. v. pp. 165, 166. It is afterwards repeated by Tobar, Cod. Ramirez, 
p 21 ; and with fuller details by Duran, Historia, etc., vol. i. cap. i. pp. 6, 7 ; 
cap. ii. pp. 13-15. Sahagun, Histo-ia, etc., lib. x. cap. xxix. vol. iii. pp. 112, 141, 
is very positive. The tale in the sixteenth centui^y was clearly founded on the 
existence of fossil remains of large size, and as such is an excellent illustration 
of the formation of " Historical Traditions and Myths of Observation," as illus- 
trated by Mr. E. B. Tylor in Researches into the Early History of Mankind, 1878, 
cap xi. pp. 32-34. Bernal Diez, Historia Verdadera, etc., 1795, "^o^- i- P- 35°' i^ 
very properly quoted by him. But it becomes interesting to study the names by 
which the Nahuatl called these supposed monsters. The Cuauhtitlan MS. uses 
" tlatlacatecoUo Ixcuiname." The first word is easily decomposed into " tlatlaca," 
men, and " tecolatl," owl, thus indicatmg the conception of "demon" or "devil," 
attached by the Nahuatl to the term of " tlacatecolotl," man-owl. The second is 
derived from ''Ixachi," much or numerous, and " Quinametli," giant. Molina, 
Vocabulario, ii. fol. 44, and i. fol. 65. The same author also calls giants " tla- 
caneyac," great men. I cannot find, ia the Nahuatl language, any explanation of 



202 AMCN.-f:OLOuJC.lL /.\SJ7TC^rE, 

inst.inco tbo vovorso of \\\\M had happened at the tinio o( 
Ouotzalcohuail took j^laco : a nunc barb.uous tribe siu\\x\k\l 
to one higher aJvaneed in eulluio, and ihc ivsiih was a 
blending of the customs of both, while the tribal worship of 
Quetzalcohuatl. now fonually converted into adoration of the 
atmospheric elements, remained as before. 

This is on the assuniption that the Nahnatl inemsion was 
of a warlike nature. Hut although, tor reasons wliieh I shall 
hereat'ter slate. 1 incline to this belief, still it is not certain 
that the change was effected bv force. That the worship of 
Ouet/alcohuatl should have sinvixed a military conquest is 
not verv probable. Still, here the peculiar relations come in 
between Camaxtli and Ouet/aleohuatl. The tribal boast of 
Tlaxcala. that its tutelar deitv was father to the tutelar god 
ot Cholula, indicates the former inferiority of the latter ; and 
while that relation was apparently soon changed, as regards 
intertribal connection, remnants of it may have been left in 
forms of worship and in mythological tales. 

The settlement o\ Xahuatl Indians on the site of Cholula is 
the last great change in the hisior\- of that tribe previous to 
the Conquest ; but when that e\ent occurred I shall not 
attempt to determine. It is as yet too early to establish a 
definite chronology running farther back from the Conquest 
than two cei\turies. and even within that period but very few 

the word " Quinametli,'" plvual " Quin.nnc." It looks like ;\ torcigu term. Kios. 
S/>tVir^.st\>nf dflU rtnx^i-, p. 165. calls the gi.xnts *' t/.ocuiUi.\equo,"" and Ixtlilxochitl, 
///>/. tifs CAtVAim^M<-s, etc., v"»- 3. " Qulinaviietzin Tzocuilhioxiine." Teiozomoc, 
Cn>m\\}, etc., cap. cviii. p. tx^.:. calls human monsters " Tezocuilyexique y por 
otro nombre Cente\-exique.'" Dr. Valentini has suggested to me the possibility 
that the word "quiname'' may originally have l^en "Maya," that is, a cor- 
ruption of " uinac " or " uinic." man, with the Mexican plural " me " attached, 
thus signifying a corruption of men ("uinac-me" changed into "quina-me"). 
If this suggestion should be contirmed, it would resolve the tale of the "giants" 
into a former settlement of Maya Indians at Cholula, the rea^llection of which 
was, through a " myth of ol^servatiou," subsequently transformed into the tradi- 
tion of a ci^lossal or monstrous people. 



STUJ)I1':S AJiOUT CJ/O/MLA AND ITS VICINITY. 203 

dates have been satisfactorily fixed. No sooner were the 
Nahuatl established at Cholula, however, than we have, up to 
the time of Cortes, a series of iiiter-tribul feuds, (.'lioliila fiidit- 
ing against Tlaxcala and lluexotzinco, or in alliance with one 
of these against the other. Towards the latter half of the fif- 
teenth century, the Mexicans and confederates appeared in the 
valley u\ Allixco, threatoiing bcjth Ch^jJula and J luexfjt/Jnco ; 
whereupon Ch(;lula appears in alliance with Tlaxcala against 
the valley confederacy, and finally in armed array against the 
Tlaxcaltecos and inclining towards the tribes of the Mexican 
valley. Thus Cortes f(jund them in iskj."- 

To ascribe to Quetzalcohuatl the introduction of forms of 
worship at Cholula may therefore be very proper, but it is 
doubtful whether, under the influence of subsequent immigra- 
tion, these forms remained unaltered. If it is true that the 
worship of his tribe excluded human sacrifice, then a great 
change took place during the Nahuatl period. A cursory 
notice of the form under which the Cholultecos represented 
Quetzalcohuatl at the time of the Conquest, and the manner 
in which they adored him, may not be out of place here. 

Sahagun simply stales that this idol was always lying 'on 
the ground, covered with robes ; that the face was ugly, the 
head long and bearded.=^ 'i'obar and Imuran give more details, 
and the latter says: "This idol was of wood, and had the 
appearance which the painting presents ; that is to say, it had 
the entire body of a man and the face of a bird with a red 

1 For a very confused, though detailed, description (;f these feuds, I refer to 
Aiiales dc CuauhlUlan, and to Camargo, Fragmoilos, etc., pp. 42-91, etc. Some 
details are also in Duran, Ilisloria, etc., vol. i. cap. Ivii., lix., Ix., etc., in Tezozotnoc, 
Cronicn, etc., cap. xcvi., xcix., etc., and Diego Panes y Abellan, Tlicalro dc Nueba 
Espana, etc., MS., vol. ii. fol. 27, 43, 150. 

2 Ilisloria General, etc., lib. iii. cap. iii. p. 243. Rojas, Relacion de Cholula, 
MS., confirms, or perhaps copies, this statement. The writings of Father Ribeira 
were known to Spanish official.s in 1581, although not published. He died on the 
5th of February, 1590, and the manuscript of his Ilisloria was completed prior 
to 1570. 



204 arciijEological institute. 

bill, on which grew a crest with warts like a Peruvian duck. 
The bill also had a row of teeth, and the tongue hanging 
out. From this beak to ^the middle of the face there was 
yellow paint, and, besides, a black band from the eyes down 
around the bill." ^ 

The festival of Quetzalcohuatl is stated by Duran to have 
taken place on the 3d of February. Forty days previously a 
slave was selected, who must be in perfect health and of fault- 
less body. He was dressed in the same manner as the idol, 
and after having been carefully bathed, and kept in "honorable 
confinement" as an object of worship for that length of time, 
he was sacrificed at midnight. The heart was tendered to the 
moon, and afterwards thrown at the idol, and the body cut 
up, cooked, and publicly devoured. This was the manner in 
which the festival was celebrated at Mexico, where Quetzal- 
cohuatl was much less worshipped than at Cholula ; still, 
Tobar leads us to infer that at Cholula a similar sacrifice was 
performed.^ 

Motolinia mentions a great festival which took place at 
Cholula every fourth year, preceded by long fasts and tor- 
tures self-inflicted upon various parts of the body, sufficient to 
draw blood. The same author speaks of reciprocal relations 
between Cholula and Tlaxcala on the occasion of the festivals 
of Camaxtli and of Quetzalcohuatl.^ 

It is noteworthy that some of the older writers attribute 
to Quetzalcohuatl the invention of those self-tortures which, 
at the time of the Conquest, were so common among the 
Nahuatl Indians of Mexico.* The custom, however, of fast- 
ing and subjecting one's self to pain is and was in general 

1 Historia de las Yndias, etc , vol. ii. cap. Ixxxiv. p. 119. Lam. 6, Trat. 2°. 

2 Codice Ramij-ez, Trat. ii. cap. iv. pp. 147, 14S. Historia de las Yndias de 
Nueua Espana, etc., vol. ii. cap. Ixxxiv. pp. 119-121. 

^ Historia, etc, Trat. i. cap. xi. pp. 60-62. Libro de Oro, cap. xxvii. p. 97. 
* Sahagun, Hist. General, etc., lib. iii. cap. iii. vol. i. p. 244; lib. x. cap. xxix. 
vol. iii. p. 112. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist, de los Chichimecos, pp. 205, 206, etc. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 205 

use among Indians as a preparation for the office of " medi- 
cine-man," ^ which could only be obtained by severe trials of 
that sort. The appellation of "priest" was bestowed upon 
him by the older writers, and has prevailed ever since. His 
main duty, besides, consisted in offering himself up in behalf 
of the tribe. The assertion, therefore, that Ouetzalcohuatl 
invented such a practice, while it cannot be totally disproved, 
still appears of doubtful probability. 

About the organization of a so-called priesthood at Cholula 
by Ouetzalcohuatl, it is equally impossible to form any con- 
clusion.2 Gabriel de Rojas has the most details on the 
subject of that organization, and I can do no better than to 
translate his statements here without vouching for their entire 
correctness :^ — 

" The Indians of this city were free, acknowledging obe- 
dience to no external authority or cacique. They governed 
themselves by two principal men, called Aquiach and Tlalchi- 
ach. The coat of arms of Aquiach was an eagle, and that of 
Tlalchiach a tiger, which is the fiercest animal of this land ; 
signifying thereby, that, as the eagle is over the birds, and the 
tiger over the beasts, so were the two mentioned above all 
the others. These two Indians were in the chief temple of 
the city, called Ouetzalcoatl (where the convent now is). This 
temple was founded in honor of a captain who led the people 
of this city to settle here in ancient times, from very remote 
parts in the west, of which nothing certain is known, and that 

1 Tlamacazqui, from Tlama, physician oi- doctor. 

" I am unable to find any direct proof of the fact beheved by many, that one 
of the medicine-men bore the title of Quetzalcohuatl. There are indications of 
it, however, and it is not at all impossible. Something similar took place among 
the Iroquois. The second and third sachemships of the Mohawks, Ha-yo- 
went'-ha (Hiawatha) and Da-ga-no-we'-da, were filled but once, and by the 
mythical personages so named. But the titles remained always afterwards. 
Morgan, Ancient Society, p. 131. Also the title of " Atotarho," of the Onondagas. 
Parkman, The Jesuits in iXorth America, Introduction, pp. liv. and Iv. 

3 Kelacion de Cholida, MS., § 14. 



2o6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL LXSTITUTE. 

captain was called Ouot/alcoatl, and when he died thcN' Iniilt 
a temple to him. In that temple there were, besides the said 
two Indians, a great number of religious men, who had to be 
chosen from the nobles of one single quarter of this citv. 
which was called Tianqui/nahuac. and to-day is named S. 
Miguel.^ Whenever these took the vows of religion, they 
ottered up all or most of their property to the temple for the 
maintenance of its inmates ; and having once entered the 
order, it was not allowed to them to go out of it any more. 
If they were married, they might go home at nightfall to sleep 
with their wives, but whenever at midnight a trumpet, made 
of a long calabash, was blown, they gathered at the temple, 
where they remained in prayer a certain time, easting incense 
before the image of Quetzalcoatl. That image was within the 
temple, of full size, and with a long beard. They prayed to it 
to give them good rains, health, and peace in their common- 
wealth. The remainder of the time they passed in the tem- 
ple, whither they carried food from their houses, and every 
twenty days thev all came together in the temple and ate in 
common. To those who newly entered the order was given 
a black cape, which they were four years ; after that time 
another cape of black and red colors ; this they wore four 
years more, at the close of which they received a black cape 
with red border for four years ; then again a black and red 
cape ; and when these three ^ courses of four years each were 
past, they received black capes again, which they wore for the 
rest of their days, except the oldest of the order, whose 
dresses were red. So it happened that, when the two Indians 
mentioned as Aquiach and Tlalquiach died, these were the 
persons who had to succeed in the chief priesthood, the two 
oldest ones taking office, and receiving the names, coats of 

1 This is the San Miguel Ticpan of the old map. 

s This should be four, but the text reads, '• y acabados estos tres cursos de a 
cada cuatro aiios." 



STUDIES ABOUT CI 10 TULA AND ITS VICINITY. 207 

arms, and insignia of Aquiach and Tlalqiiiach, the eagle and 
the tiger. Thus the oldest ones continually succeeded in the 
supreme office, and two of them governed the whole republic, 
and from thi's order the captains were chosen by Aquiach and 
Tlalquiach whenever any war with their neighbors began." 

Rojas then states how the chiefs of neighboring pueblos 
went to Cholula to pay tribute and homage to Quetzalcohuatl 
after being placed in office, and received from the two high- 
priests the investiture. I have already alluded to the im- 
probability of this statement. He afterwards proceeds as 
follows : — 

" Alongside of the said temple there was a great block of 
houses {ima gran cuadrd), in which resided ordinarily twenty- 
six of the leading Indians of the tribe, who accompanied the 
two high-priests whenever these went out anywhere. In the 
same block there were stationed a large number of trumpeters 
and drummers, whose office it was to go before the high- 
priests, when they went out, playing their instruments. Be- 
sides, the trumpeters had to blow their trumpets at sunset, so 
that all might say their prayers, and again at midnight. Then 
those of the temple rose to pray, as it has been told, and to 
burn incense to the idol, after having first bathed, and when 
at midnight the trumpets sounded, all those of the people who 
heard the sound rose in their houses, bathed, and remained 
awhile in prayers. Afterwards, at daybreak, they gave another 
bk.st for the same purpose, and the people of the pueblo com- 
monly gathered in the temple in the morning to pray and 
make their offerings, which consisted of fowl, quails, rabbits, 
deer, copal-incense, and other things 

" On the summit of a hill which is in this city, there was, in 
a hermitage there constructed, an idol called Chiconauh Ouia- 
huitl, that is to say, he who rains nine times, because they 
called the rain qiuaJiiiitl, and the number nine cJiiconahue. 



208 ARCH.-EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

To this the}^ prayed whenever they lacked water, and sacri- 
ficed to it children from six to ten years of age, whom they 
captured or bought for that purpose. When they sacrificed, 
they carried the children up the hill in procession, whither 
went some old men singing, and before the idol they cut 
the child open with a knife, taking out the heart, and they 
burnt incense to the idol, and afterwards buried the baby (Az 
criaturd) there before the idol. This they always did when 
there was scarcity of water for their crops. Besides, they 
held a special festival for it every year, at which all the pueblo 
were present. 

" In addition to these idols, which were the principal ones 
of the city, it contained well-nigh eight hundred minor idols 
in little churches or hermitages in all the quarters, in which 
they also performed their rites and ceremonies, adorations and 
sacrifices of such men as fell to the share of each quarter in 
war. These idols also had little hillocks made by hand, like 
the one mentioned, with its hermitage upon it, called Teucale, 
or house of god. Of these hillocks there remain two at this 
day, which are close by the great hill. These may be forty 
ells in height, and are made of adobe bricks, and even to-day 
there are all over the city relics of many other smaller, which, 
together with the houses, have gone to decay." 

I have already alluded to the probability that the two high- 
priests may have been in fact only leading chiefs, similar to 
the dual executive found in other tribes. The ritual and the 
organization of the so-called priesthood are simply analogous 
to what existed among the Nahuatl tribes at the time of the 
Conquest,^ and also resemble what is told by Burgoa about 
the customs and practices of worship at the former Tzapoteco 
settlement of Lyo-Baa, where now stands the village of San 

1 Compare Sahagiin, Hist. General, etc., lib. ii. Apendice, vol. i. pp. 217, -29; 
lib. iii. Apendice, cap. ix. ib. p. 276; lib. viii. cap. xxvii. vol. ii. p. 316 ; and other.s. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 209 

Pablo Mitla, in the State of Oaxaca.' There are, of course, 
tribal, and therefore local variations, but at the same time 
such conspicuous resemblances that I cannot safely conclude 
whether any, or what, part may be due to the original influ- 
ence of the immigration which Quetzalcohuatl has been made 
to typify. 

There still remains to be considered how, and in what man- 
ner, he may have come to be regarded as " god of the traders." 
In another place I have attempted to show the true part which 
the inhabitants of Cholula played in the life of Indian tribes 
in Mexico.^ Cholula was, by its geographical position, its 
natural products, and the industry of its people, a great Indian 
market.'"^ 

In the first place, it was of easier access from the south than 
any other pueblo of Central Mexico, and consequently the 
tribes of the valley, in their trading expeditions, found there 
a resting-place, when on their journeys towards Oaxaca. But 
at the same time, at the Cholula fairs, they met with the pro- 
duce of the far south, which had been carried along the line 
of tribes extending from Tehuantepec up through the valley 
of Oaxaca to Cuicatlan, Cozcatlan, Tehuacan, Tcpexe, Te- 
peaca, to within convenient distance of Cholula. All these 
pueblos lay within easy reach of each other, and it was not 
necessary for the Indian traders from the south to go any far- 
ther than Cholula in order to meet the products of the valley 
tribes. The exchange might very w'ell take place there. 

1 Fray Francisco de Burgoa, Gcogra/ica Dcscripcion de la Parte septentrional 
del Polo Arctico de la America, y N'ueva Iglesia de las Indias Occidentales, y Sitio 
AstronSmico de esta Pro^iincia de Predicadores de Antcquera Valle de Oaxaca, 
etc., Mexico, 1674, Parte ii. cap. xxiii. fol. 129; id. vol. ii. fol. 25S-261, cap. liii. 
I shall have occasion to refer again to this very rare and considerably over- 
estimated work. 

2 Social Organization and Mode of Government, etc., pp. 602-606. 

■' Ixtlilxochitl, Quinta Kclacion, etc., p. 332, even speaks of Cholula as one of 
the chief markets of the Toltecs. That its fairs were much frequented at the 
time of the Conquest is well known. 

14 



2IO ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

The tribe possessed two great staples, — cochineal and 
maize, of which the latter was of much less importance. Co- 
chineal, or nocheztli (blood of the prickly pear), was raised on 
the Opuntia in large quantities. As late as 1581, the city of 
Cholula alone produced annually from 2,000 to 4,000 arrobas 
(50,000 to 100,000 pounds).^ The subsequent introduction of 
European cereals completely put an end to its culture there, 
although the Spanish government encouraged it in other parts 
of Mexico. But before the Conquest the d3'e was a valuable 
object of exchange, much sought after, and it formed an at- 
traction to traders of distant tribes. It is known that, under 
the system of desultory warfare common to the aborigines of 
Mexico, commercial intercourse was seldom interrupted, even 
at the time of hostilities. 

Of industrial products, it was principally the pottery which 
drew strangers to the Tianquiz of Cholula. There can be 
bought now in Cholula large numbers of heads made of clay; 
human heads and skulls, heads of lizards, and possibly of 
monkeys. They all go by the name of idols, although the 
children call them " little faces " {caritas). I am satisfied 
that they were merely intended for ornaments to jars and 
pots, shaped in little moulds and fastened upon the unbaked 
vessels, commonly one on each of four sides. In some cases 
an entire human body formed one face of the jar. Plastic art 
in general at Cholula labored under the same defects which 
are manifest in the collections at the National Museum of 
Mexico. The form is fairly good whenever it is very simple. 
Thus human faces are sometimes excellent, and I have secured 
one piece, imitating the female head-dress previously men- 
tioned, which is quite perfect. But as soon as an attempt is 
made to carve the whole body, then a disproportion between 
its various parts results, which is most disagreeable to the eye. 
The same is true of stone figures also. The latter are scarce 

^ Rojas, Relacion de C/iolula, § 23. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 2 11 

at Cholula at present, and are all made out of tetzontli, the 
black lava used for the manufacture of grinding slabs. 

Green stones, carved into various shapes, have been asso- 
ciated with Quetzalcohuatl,^ and inferentially with Cholula. 
They are quite frequent, or were so a short time ago, among 
the finds in the neighborhood of the present city. I have 
seen collars, perforated disks, and entire frogs. The work- 
manship has nothing to distinguish it from that of other speci- 
mens of plastic art. But it is to be remembered, that I have 
been unable to find this material in situ anywhere within the 
district ; that the Indians always positively assured me that its 
locality was unknown ; and finally, that most of the natives 
are of the opinion that these stones are artificial compounds. 
They are called "chalchihuites," but it can easily be seen that 
this name is applied to the color alone, irrespective of their 
chemical composition.^ I have scarcely any doubt that this 
material was imported into Cholula from regions now un- 
known, thus affording additional evidence of traffic at the 
aboriginal pueblo. 

The same can be said of obsidian. It was called by various 
names, Itztli, Melitztetl, Pelitztetl, and the nearest place where 
it occurs lies far outside of the present district. Still, the 
demand for it must have been great, judging by the quantity 
of flakes, cores, knives, arrowheads, etc., etc., still to be found 
scattered over the surface. It was an object of such moment 
in daily life as to indicate a steady intercourse with the North, 
where the nearest obsidian rocks protrude.^ 

1 Sahagun, Hist. General, etc., lib. iii. cap. iii. p. 243. Anales de Cuauhtitlan, 
p. 16, and others. 

2 At Calpan I was shown chalchihuite of various kinds. One was plainly 
serpentine, another was as plainly green obsidian, and a third apparently chlo- 
rite slate. It is the color which gave the name. Therefore it ought to be written 
as it is pronounced, — " chal " or "xal," " xihuitl," the x sounding like sh in 
English. 

2 Near Tullantzinco, on the western slope of the coast Cordillera, although I 
incline to the belief that it may be found even nearer. 



212 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

Of gold, silver, and copper there are a few traces in the 
southwestern and southern parts of the old tribal range, but 
there is no certainty that veins of these metals were ever 
worked there. That objects of art made from such material 
should be scarce now is only natural, and no evidence of their 
former rarity. Still, the metal could have reached Cholula 
only by trade and barter. Such metallic objects as I have 
seen were fairly well made by beating or hammering, but 
without any evidence of casting. Of their antiquit}',^ how- 
ever, I do not feel quite sure. 

Featherwork and rabbit-hair were used to decorate cotton 
textures. Of the former there is still a magnificent specimen 
at the church of Calpan, which, however, postdates the Con- 
quest ;^ and of the latter I have seen a fine robe from Tlaxcala, 
also of later date, but with patterns evidently antique.^ Some 
species of the birds of Cholula have bright hues, but the most 
brilliant of all, the humming-birds, are not more common 
there than in northern latitudes. The gaudy plumage of the 
parrot and macaw, the splendid feathers of the trogon or que- 
tzaltototle, had to be brought from the far South, thus forming 
another object of commerce on the Tianquiz of Cholula. 

I confess my inability to decide the question whether cot- 
ton was raised at Cholula at the time of the Conquest, or not. 
The older authors are silent on this point, and I incline to the 
belief that, if cultivated at all, it was not extensively. The 
fact that I saw an ancient hand-loom at Cuauhtlantzinco, is 
far from conclusive. But as the people dressed in cotton, at 
least to some extent,^ I infer that cotton also formed an article 
of importation. 

1 Such are ear-rings of gold, now in the National Museum of Mexico. 

2 The picture of St. Andrew, commonly called " El San Andres de pluma." 

^ It was offered to me, but I refused to buy it. It contains silk thread, and, 
although made after antique patterns, is still evidently later than the Conquest. 

•* Rojas, Relacion de Cholula, § 30, " Mantas de algodon para su vestir, no se 
hacen aqui; pero traenlas a vender al tianquez de diversas partes donde se 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 21 3 

Last, but certainly not least, as an object of barter, is the 
cacao. It is needless to state that this was not, and is not 
now, a product of the high plateau. Rojas, in 1581, writes 
about it as follows: "The greatest commerce done in this 

pueblo is in cochineal and in cacao This cacao they 

grind and dissolve in water, beating it with the hand, so that 
it raises much froth," ^ At present, it is no longer beaten, but 
a wooden pestle is twirled about in the liquid between the 
palms of both hands. That cacao served for exchange, or 
rather as a rude substitute for money, is well known, which 
evidently increased the demand for it. Rojas says that, at 
his time, there were Indians so dexterous in handling cacao as 
to count 200,000 grains in one day. 

The variety of products which accumulated at Cholula 
in this manner made of its inhabitants a tribe of traders, 
as the TIaxcaltecos justly remarked to Cortes. It is not 
strange, therefore, that the tutelar deity of Cholula, Quetzal- 
cohuatl, became in the eyes of foreign tribes the god of 
the traders. Those who frequented the Cholula market 
placed themselves under his protection, and sought to secure 
his good will and assistance by offerings at his shrine, which 
accounts for the idea that Cholula was a place of pilgrimage 
for all the Indians of Mexico. It is very natural that the 
Cholultecos may have made some such boast of an imaginary 
superiority of their god to all the other deities of the land. 

Before casting a glance at the arts of life and husbandry 
practised at Cholula at the time of its Spanish conquest, I 
must call attention to the other statement of Rojas touching 
worship ; namely, that besides Quetzalcohuatl, and next to 
him in authority and importance, that tribe worshipped an 
idol called Chiconauh Ouiahuitl, or Nine Rains. 

labran, y especialmente se gastan las de Campeche, que son las comunes, aunque 
se gastan tilmas y huipiles pulidos y curiosos para su vestir." 
1 Rclacion, etc., § 33. 



214 ARCH.-SOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

That such an idol was really worshipped on the top of the 
so-called Pyramid of Cholula, so far as I know, is only stated 
by this author ; but it is singular that, among the Indians of 
to-day, the great mound is called Chicontepetl, Nine Hills. 
I would here remark, that the number nine associated with 
an object frequently denoted among the Nahuatl merely 
something supernatural, without regard to definite quantity.^ 
Therefore, while I inchne to the belief that the word is di- 
rectly connected with the nine months of the year from the 
beginning of March to the beginning of December, — during 
which more or less rain falls at Cholula, — still it might simply 
indicate the origin of rain as from the heavens, without any 
allusion to the specific period or season. But it is worth not- 
ing, that the idol at Cholula next in importance to Ouetzalco- 
huatl, the rain-bringing Winds, is Rain itself, and the idea of 
an original connection between the two cults becomes quite 
probable. This is further strengthened by the statement of 
Sahagun, according to which Chiconquinitl was brother of the 
god of the merchants.^ I shall have to return to this point 
again, when I treat of the great mound, or so-called Pyramid 
of Cholula. 

The position of Cholula, as an extremely convenient, and 
therefore much frequented market, explains another statement, 
that Ouetzalcohuatl possessed unusual treasures, according to 
the Indian conception ; such as birds of precious plumage, 
which that part of Mexico does not possess, " chalchihuitl," 

^ I refer to the " nine heavens " of the Historia de los Mexicanos por siis Pin- 
turas, p. 102, of the Anales de Cuauhtitlan, p. 15. To the terms used by Tezo- 
zomoc, C7-6nica, etc., cap. Iv. p. 436 : " Yu atlecalocon Chicnauhmictlan, en el 
noveno infierno del abismo " ; also cap. Ix. p. 454. To the idol Chicunahuitz- 
cuintli, " nine dogs," Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., lib. vi. cap. xxx. p. 60. To 
the river Chicunahuapan in the infernal regions, Id., lib. xiii. cap. xlvii. p. 527. 
Finally, to the idol Chicunauh Hecat, " nine winds " (Chiconauh Ehecatl) of the 
Nahuatl of Nicaragua, already mentioned. 

2 Hist. General, etc., lib. i. cap. xix. p. 32. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 215 

and gold and silver. Some writers have attributed to him 
the invention of the art of manufacturing these materials. 
It is more than doubtful whether this is true in regard to 
metals ^ and stones ; while as to feather-work, not only was 
it in use during ancient times among tribes where Ouetzal- 
cohuatl was hardly supposed to be known, but at Cholula 
feathers and also rabbit-hair were worked into cotton cloth, or 
rather mantles. Rojas positively asserts that the latter were 
not made at Cholula. His picture of the aboriginal dress at 
the time of the Conquest is very clear and positive : " Their 
dress in times of peace consisted of a tilmatl or white cotton 
mantle, square, with the two ends tied together on the right 
shoulder ; of a narrow breechclout, and of shoes like sandals, 

similar to those which the ancients used to wear The 

women used to wear a many-colored cotton skirt, coming 
down to the ankle or a little above, with plaits and folds and 
paintings, called nahuas. Over the naguas was worn a gui'- 
pilli, like a cloak or breast-cloth without sleeves, the border 
stitched with cotton, and with tufts of rabbit-hair and feath- 
ers of ducks for ornament. In front and behind, these gui- 
pilles show a square portion, on which many figures of 
animals, birds, and fishes are executed with gold and in 
colors." Cotton also entered, like feather-work, largely into 
their military dress and ornaments. Says the same author- 
ity : " They fought with bows and arrows, and with a weapon 
made out of a handle, in which was inserted many pieces of 
flint as sharp as knives. This they called itzquanitl, or wood 
of knives y because they call a knife istli, and wood qiianitl. 
In war they wore, as protection against arrows, skirts {ju- 

1 Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., lib. iii. cap. xix. p. 282, positively denies 
that the people of Cholula worked these metals : " Y no a ser Plateras, y 
Entalladoras, como Francisco Lopez de Gomara dice, aunque es verdad, que 
muchas usan el trato de la Mercancia, y andan de Mercado, en Mercado." 
Neither does Rojas mention it 



2l6 ARCHyEOLOClCAL INSTITUTE. . 

bones) stuffed with cotton, like armor, and shields of canes 
decorated with feathers ; also, much feather-work was worn 
for ornaments, and these shields and feathers they use to-day 
in their dances, called mitoti." ^ If cotton was not extensively 
cultivated about Cholula, of which there is no proof,^ it must 
be doubtful whether Ouetzalchuatl could have had anything 
to do with inventing arts for which the materials were not at 
his command. 

Aboriginal horticulture at the time of the Conquest was 
limited to but few objects, of which I have already mentioned 
cochineal, maize, and cotton. Beans, calabashes, and pepper 
were the other cultivated plants, with the addition of the all- 
important maguey. I have been able to learn nothing of 
value as to the modes of cultivation and the implements used. 
In regard to irrigation, one curious fact is, that the Cholulte- 
cos were dependent for it upon their neighbors of Huexo- 
tzinco, since all the drainage of the Yzta-cihuatl had to pass 
through the latter's territory, (which included Calpan,) before 
it reached the Range of Cholula. The use of this water was 
a fruitful source of dissensions, and hence arose the almost 
continuous quarrel between the two tribes.^ 

1 Relacioit, etc., § 15. This style of dress had already begun to be changed 
in his time. But we readily recognize the same general features which com- 
posed the aboriginal dress at the time of the Conquest, and among the weapons 
the " macuauitl," or wooden sword, the " ichcahuipilli," or stuffed cotton skirt 
and jacket, and the " chimalli," or shield. D. Juan N. Mendez, Governor of the 
State of Puebla, informed me that he had found the " macuauitl " in graves 
many years ago. At present, there are none to be seen. 

- Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., lib. iii. cap. xix. p. 282, says : " La gente 
pobre vestia de nequen, que es la Tela gruesa, y basta, que se hace del Maguei, 
y los Ricos, vesti'an de Algodon, con orlas labradas de Pluma, y Pelo de Cone- 
jos, aunque aora todos visten bien." Compare Tapia, Relacion, etc., p. 573. 
Bernal Diez, Hist. Verdadera, etc., cap. Ixxxii. p. 73. Cortes, Carta Segimda, 
p. 21. 

3 It continued the same after the Conquest. The archives of Cholula con- 
tain many documents relative to this continuous strife, down to the present cen- 
tury. The drinking-water for Cholula now descends from the haciendas of 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 2 17 

The maguey was, and still is, of great value to the Indian 
of that region. In aboriginal times it was used not only to 
manufacture a beverage from, and for firewood, but its spines 
and thorns served as needles and awls, and the fibre, " pata," 
was used, as it now is, for thread, and for ropes. It was also 
medicinal, the charred spines being used as a cure for open 
wounds.i The beverage, however, which the Indians made 
from the maguey was different from the ptdqite of to-day. 
The latter is fermented, the former was boiled. Fray Toribio 
Motolinia described the process of boiling as follows : " This 
liquid, when it is gathered, is like honey, and when it is cooked 
and boiled on the fire it makes a clear sweetish wine, which 
the Spaniards drink, and declare to be very substantial and 
wholesome. When some roots are thrown in during the cook- 
ing, which the Indians call ocpateli, a word which signifies 
sauce or medicine of wine, it becomes so strong as to in- 
ebriate those who take it in quantities. During heathenish 
times the Indians used it to make themselves drunk, and 
more cruel and beastly." ^ Rojas, who wrote about thirty 
years later, does not mention the boiling process ; but Oviedo,^ 
who was a contemporary of Motolinia, and also Hernandez,^ 

Chahuac and Buenavista. Both lie on the slopes of the Yztac-cihuatl, in the 
district of Huexotzinco. 

1 Rojas, Relacion, etc., § 26. But the juice of the maguey was also used to 
dissolve medicines. Motolinia, Historia, etc., Tiat. iii. cap. xix. pp. 244, 245 : 
" Todas las medicinas que se han de beber se dan a los enfermos con este vino ; 
pues^o en su taza 6 copa echan sobre el la medicina que aplican para Ja cura y 
salud del enfermo." Sahagun, Hist. General, etc., lib. xi. cap. vii. p. 276. 

2 Historia, etc, Trat. iii. cap. xix. p. 244. It is singular that the Conquistador 
anonimo, xi. p. 382, does not mention the boiling process at all. " Et in certo 
tempo dell' anno che e maturo et ha la sua stagione, con una trivella forano questo 
albero da basso donde stilla un' humore che lo mettono in conserva in certe 
scorze d' alberi che hanno ; et di li a un di, 6 duoi lo beono cosi smisuratamente 
che fiu che cadano in terra ibriachi senza sentimento non lassano di here." This 
would indicate fermentation also. 

3 Hist. General y Natural, etc., lib. xi. cap xi. pp. 3S4, 3S5. 

* Joannes Eusebius Nieremberg, Historia Natures maxime Peregrines, 1635, 
lib. xiv. cap. xi. p. 300. Nieremberg copied Hernandez. 



2l8 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 

know of no other mode of preparing the juice of the maguey 
as a beverage. It seems, therefore, that the aborigines, pre- 
vious to the Conquest, produced their maguey wine in a 
manner somewhat different from the pulque of to-day, and 
similar to the process still in use among the Comanches.^ 

That the fields were small, on which these and the other 
crops grew, can be seen to-day. Even now, when the Indian 
is acquainted with the use of domestic animals, he practises 
horticulture rather than agriculture.^ That the area culti- 
vated was much smaller then than now, is proved also by the 
abundance of game then, which now has almost entirely dis- 
appeared. 

Their mode of tenure of lands did not differ from that 
which I have described as in existence among the ancient 
Mexicans.^ It was communal, and remained so until lately. 
The plots were held in possession, and not by absolute owner- 
ship. For governmental purposes a special tract was set 
off, and this custom lasted at Cholula perhaps longer than in 
many other parts of Mexico, as the " tecpan-tlalli," as well as 
the " tlatoca-tlalli," at an early date were converted by the 
Spaniards into private estates for the Indian chiefs under the 
erroneous impression that these chiefs had owned them pre- 
vious to the Conquest. The " tlatoca-tlalli " of Cholula cer- 
tainly remained unimpaired as late as 1555,^ while eleven 



1 Bancroft, Native Races, vol. i. p. 517. 

2 The turkey was domesticated before the Conquest. Now the Indian has 
other domestic animals, but he generally takes very poor care of the larger kind. 

^ Compare On the Tenure and Distribution of Lands, and the Customs with Re- 
spect to Inheritance, among the Ancient Mexicans. I have nothing to add to the 
contents of that essay except the fact, that possibly the members of the same 
calpulli may have been allowed to sell their lots, " tlalmilli," to others, provided 
these were of the same cluster. I am not quite sure of this, however. 

* Testamento de Capixlahuatzin, MS. : " Y para que sirban en nuestra tierra 
de cacicasgo que nos endono el Senor Viso-Rey Don Luis de Velasco, en nombre 
de nuestro gran Rey, el que se haya en Espana .... a vos otros nuestros hijos 
y nietos, que estan en nuestra tierra antigua, que nos fueron endonado." This 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 



219 



years later the same tracts of the pueblo of Calpan appear as 
private property of a cacique.^ The mode of inheritance also 
seems to have been the same as in Mexico, the male descend- 
ants alone having a share in the cultivable lots ;2 but during 
the time of Spanish domination this was changed, so as to 
gradually introduce an equal distribution among all the chil- 
dren. 

Marriage and burial customs are best described by simply 
translating the passages in which Rojas alludes to them : 
" When they married they did not go to church, but the pair, 
being together in the house of the parents, were covered both 
with one mantle or tilmatl, and a chip of pitchy pine wood 
was fastened in front of them, called in their language ocotl, 
and when this chip had burnt down, the marriage was con- 
sidered as concluded ; but it could be dissolved on any 
trifling grounds, and they might remarry with whom they 
liked. They had but one legitimate wife, but many concu- 

alludes evidently to the " tecpan-tlalli," converted into private tracts by the 
Spanish donations. The following words, however, apply to the " tlatoca- 
tlalli " : "a de acabar de hacer la Yglesia de San Pedro y San Pablo Tlaquil- 
tenanco en la tierra del Seiiorio." 

1 yiinta de San Nicolas, MS. The "tierras de los caciques" were designated 
by groups of palm trees at their corners, and I have seen three such groups. One, 
a very large one, is on the western slope of the Teoton, another on the east side 
of the old monastery of Calpan, and a third between San Gregorio Atzompan 
and Papaxtla. It is presumable that these palms were not planted, but simply 
left standing. I must here recall another fact. The Anales de Citauhtitlan, p. 22, 
call the morning star " Tlahuiz Calpan Teuctli," and this is translated by " Chief 
wno sheds light on the Houses." This same expression I found in a deed of 
real estate, written in Nahuatl, of 1730, applied to D. Leonardo de Mendoza. 
In general, it was only in the latter half of the past century that the Spanish 
government made a decided effort to oust the Nahuatl idiom from common use 
in writing. I have seen deeds in Nahuatl dated 1787. According to the Libra 
Primero de Cordilleras, of Calpan, MS., fol. 47, 48, 49, the Bishop of Puebla, 
D. Francisco Fabian y Fuero, issued a circular dated 19 September, 1769, en- 
joining strict use of the Spanish language by the aborigines. This was in conse- 
quence of a mandate from the Viceroy, Marquis de Croix, dated 7 September, 
1769, fol. 49. 

2 Rojas, Helacion, etc, MS. 



220 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

bines beside." ^ This agrees perfectly with the general cus- 
tom reported of the Nahuatl tribes before the Conquest, and 
suggests also a few of the ceremonies still observed among 
the natives of to-day.^ 

Rojas is brief in regard to burials : " When they died 
they were buried before some idol, in a round hole, not ex- 
tended at full length, but leaning or squatting." ^ I made dili- 
gent inquiry for graves, but never saw any. A great number 
of descriptions, however, were furnished to me by those who 
had found them within the city of Cholula as well as outside, 
as far west as the Hacienda de San Benito, on the former 
confines of Calpan, and as far north as near the great bend of 
the Rio Atoyac. The statements vary greatly, and indicate 
either superficial observation or different modes of burial — 
probably both. 

On the plan of part of the city of Cholula, (Plate XIII. 
Fig. lo,) I have designated the places where I became satis- 
fied that human bones, skulls, and other indications of burial, 
had been exhumed. These are not all, but they are the only 
ones which I could locate definitively. 

1. On the summit of the so-called Pyramid were found a 
few human bones, together with an urn or jar, two conch- 
shells, and a piece of quartz containing iron pyrites. This 
recalls the sacrifices of children to the idol of Rain mentioned 
by Rojas, in which the bodies were buried in front of the idol. 
No other details could be ascertained, except that the objects 
were all close together, as if in one heap. 

2. A human skeleton was disinterred, extended at full 
length, with head to the west. On the skull was a small bowl 

1 Relacion, etc., MS. The girls brought no dower. 

- I was told that in some cases the principal men were, sent to make request 
for the girl. I need not refer to older authors for descriptions of marriage cus- 
toms, as they are well known. 

3 Relacion, etc., § 14. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 221 

of clay painted red, which contained coins. The remains were 
dug up in the street at a slight depth, and the coins clearly 
indicate that the burial postdated the Conquest. 

3. Another instance occurred in the adobe of the north side 
of the artificial Cerro de Acozac, but no details were secured. 

4. At the base of the pyramid, northwest corner, but within 
the area over which the adobe of the mound formerly extended,^ 
was a round grave or cyst, incased by stones. The body was 
in a sitting posture, facing the east. Along with it, a very few 
vases, stone figures, and trinkets were found. Among these 
trinkets was a circular perforated tablet, composed of trape- 
zoidal plates of green stones {cJialchihiiites, but of various 
materials). It lay on the breast of the skeleton. The whole 
was covered with a little knoll of earth. 

5. Human bones were exhumed near the cross erected on 
the southwestern platform of the great mound. No reliable 
details, however, were obtained, and possibly the burial is 
recent. 

6 and 7. Railroad excavations at the foot of the mound, and 
also near the Cerro de la Cruz, brought to light four skulls. 
Of these, one was complete, with the lower jaw, and large. It 
showed a most remarkable artificial deformity. The rear part 
of the head was perfectly flat, giving the skull the appearance 

1 I would refer here to a statement made by Humboldt, Momunents Indigenes, 
Pyramide de Cholula, p. 108. When the new road to Puebla was made (the one 
maiked A B on the map of the Pyramid), a square house [ime maison carree) 
of stone was found, supported by beams, or pillars [pontres of Cnpresstis disticha), 
and containing two corpses, idols of basalt, and a great number of artistic vases, 
painted and varnished. He did not himself see the vases, but he states that this 
house was covered with adobe coatings of clay overlapping each other. Al- 
though it was plain that the building had no entrance, it is doubtful whether it 
was a sepulchre. The place where it stood is not in the interior of the mound, 
but on the lowest northern apron of it, and the greatest depth at which it could 
have been found could not have exceeded two metres (about six feet). It looks 
more like a very old house standing on that apron, and subsequently covered 
over, as is indicated by the strata of clay. 



22 2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

of half a dome cut in two vertically. The other was not 
much distorted, but had the forehead rather low and slightly 
sloping. They both appeared to be strongly prognathic, 
and lay imbedded in the adobe projecting from the mound. 
The skulls lay by themselves, and no other human bones or 
any objects were with them, and I saw them both, as well 
as their impressions in the adobe, which were at a depth 
of 1.50 metres (about 5 feet). The adobe appeared undis- 
turbed. At 

7. Two other skulls were found, but without the lower jaws, 
one of which I secured for the Museum at Cambridge. These 
were dug up beneath the adobe, at a depth of at least 5 metres 
(16 feet) from the surface. In addition to these skulls, human 
bones were found along the trenches opened by the railroad 
on the west side of the mound, but I could not learn any 
reliable details about their situation. 

8. In the northwest corner of the court of his house, at a 
depth of 1 1 metres (5 feet), the Licenciado D. Antonio Daniel 
dug out of the soil a lot of funeral urns, not large, but well 
painted. They were arranged so as to surround the best one, 
beneath which he found a copper ring, which I saw. It was 
thickly corroded with green carbonate. In the northeast 
corner of the same court, Sr. Daniel dug up, at the same depth 
and in the same layer of earth, large vases, but less ornate. 
These contained human bones uncalcined, and with them 
complete skulls and also female trinkets. Close by, he un- 
covered foundations of adobe and stone. 

9. Human bones were dug out of a low mound south of the 
Cerro de Acozac. No details were secured, but the fact 
appears positive, 

10. Human bodies were disinterred in the corner of the 
block. No record was made and preserved of the mode of 
burial. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 223 

1 1. At the northwest corner of the house belonging to Don 
Antonio Ramirez, some eighteen years ago, a singular dis- 
covery was made, which I record here, although it does not 
strictly belong to instances of interment. A metlatl, or grind- 
ing-slab, was unearthed, with the entire skeleton of a woman 
bending over it, and beside her still lay the crushing-pin and 
ladle. The skeleton was, however, soon scattered by the 
Indian workmen, who generally have very little respect for 
the remains of their ancestors. 

Of burials outside of the city of Cholula I have heard 
various reports. An Indian told me that, while ploughing 
in a field, he unearthed a clay vessel containing ashes and 
charred bones, which he threw out, and that the vessel soon 
afterwards was broken. Of the skeletons found in mounds on 
the banks of the Rio Atoyac I have already spoken. But D. 
Eusebio de la Hidalga, of Puebla, told me, that, a few days 
after my departure from Cholula, along the new railroad now 
in construction to San Martin Tezmelucan, and in the direc- 
tion of Cuauhtlantzinco, very large clay vessels, with covers, 
had been exhumed, each containing a human body in a squat- 
ting posture. This information I consider reliable. 

On the Hacienda of San Benito, the property of Don 
Francisco Aguilar, east of the beautiful cone of the Teoton, 
many remains of burials have been brought to light. The 
Indians invariably scattered the bones before Sr. Aguilar 
could reach the spot, but another person stated that the 
bodies lay extended. Along with them stone heads were 
found, two of which I saw. The largest one is of black lava, 
of almost natural size, and much worn. The other, though 
smaller, is flat, and of a greenish, very hard rock, fragments 
of which I found only at the bottom of the deep barranca of 
Atiopan, near Calpan. San Benito now lies in the district of 
Atlixco, but it formerly belonged to the range of Huexotzinco 



224 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

and Calpan, and there is no doubt but that the settlement 
there, of which many vestiges are still visible, had ceased to 
be occupied before the tiipe of the Conquest. 

None of the data here collected are of very much signifi- 
cance ; but enough can be gathered to suggest several distinct 
modes of burial, implying occupation of the soil at different 
periods of time. The most recent one, belonging to the time 
of the Conquest, according to Rojas, is clearly illustrated by 
the round grave found at 4. Urn-burial I consider as estab- 
lished, from the character of the authorities from whom I 
derive my information ; but cremation, although not improb- 
able, is not yet absolutely proved to have existed. The find 
on the Rio Atoyac is authentic in the main, and seems to 
indicate mound-burial in masses, but the details are too vague 
to permit any conclusions to be drawn. Finally, the graves 
at San Benito, of whose existence also I am satisfied, are too 
imperfectly described to suggest even the mode of burial. 
The last two localities are, beyond all doubt, much older 
than the Nahuatl pueblo of Cholula, which Cortes saw in 
15 19. The urn-burial near Cuauhtlantzinco also occupies a 
site of which no tradition is left. Should, therefore, cre- 
mation not be proved, or should it be established that its 
practice was coeval with one or the other of the customs men- 
tioned, there would be at least three different aboriginal modes 
of disposing of the dead, which suggest as many distinct 
stocks, succeeding each other in occupation of the territory 
of Cholula. 

I have already stated my inability to find, in the whole dis- 
trict, any satisfactory remains of house architecture. The 
reason for this is easily explained by the fact that Cholula 
was not destroyed and abandoned, but gradually transformed 
by improvements in the style of architecture and in materials. 
Previous to the Conquest, the Indian knew nothing of burnt 



PLATE XU 




DOCRWAY. SAN ANDRES CHOLl'. \ 



»%V\»T\t"« <V<\\V1»,^ %«,^ **%\*v 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 225 

lime or of brick.^ His builcling-stone was not hewn, it was 
hammered or broken, and pohshed by simple friction when 
his fancy demanded it. I saw but a single broken wall to 
which I can assign an origin prior to the coming of the 
Spaniards. This wall stands inside the court of a dwelling 
in the Calle de Herreros, at Cholula, and in some places is 
0.50 metre (20 inches), or even i metre (39 inches) high, 
and 0.83 metre (32 inches) thick, and is made of broken 
stones of various sizes, imbedded in common adobe soil. In 
method of construction, thickness, and material, it agrees per- 
fectly with the body of the walls composing the buildings of 
Mitla. It is probable that, as at Mitla, these rough walls 
were faced with polished blocks to prevent deterioration by 
rain ; but of the kind of facings it is not easy to form a 
conjecture. 

The keystone of the flat arch of a doorway in a house front- 
ing on the Calle Real bears a half-effaced sculpture of the 
head of an eagle, which strikingly resembles those of Santa 
Lucia Cosumalwhuapa in Guatemala, and the head of the 
great eagle which Dr. A. Le Plongeon has discovered in 
the course of his remarkable explorations at Chichen-Itza, 
Yucatan. In the court of the same house I discovered 
fragments of another stone with the same design, and finally 
the four eagles on the doorway from San Andres Cholula 
(Plate XII.) are exactly similar. These four specimens are 
the only examples of polished stonework which I regard as 

1 The question of burnt lime is an interesting one. Rojas, Rclacion, etc., § 31, 
says : " Y la cal (la tram.) de la ciudad de los Angeles." And I have not seen 
any burnt lime in any Indian building of old date. It was always pulverized 
carbonate of lime, and therefore unburnt. The Spanish expression " cal y canto " 
has nothing decisive beyond indicating a stone wall. Thus Torquemada calls 
the houses of Cholula, " eran de cal y canto." I found the stone wall of the 
Tecpan to consist of broken stone and common earth, not mortar. From the 
circumstance that we have no description of how they burnt lime, nor even a 
statement that they burnt it, I infer that the art was unknown to them. 

15 



2 26 ARCHAEOLOGICAL L\STITUTE. 

probably dating back to aboriginal times at Cholula, and 
their appearance has convinced me that they were not hewn, 
but broken by hammering, and afterwards rubbed down to 
smoothness and approximate squareness. 

We have no description of the houses of Cholula, as they 
appeared to Cortes and to his followers, but we may well sub- 
stitute that of the Indian houses of Tezcoco left us by the 
native author, Juan Bautista Pomar, in the year 1583. Many 
of these houses are still standing. 

" The form and construction of their houses is low, with no 
upper story whatever ; some of them are built of stone and 
lime, others of stone and simple clay, the most of them of 
adobe, which is chiefly used in this city. To-day we find 
buildings thereof as strong and perfect as if they were new, 
although they are over two hundred years old. The covering 
is of beams, and, instead of planking, there are small strips so 
well fitted together that none of the earth which forms the 
top can run through. Most of them enclose a court, around 
which are the rooms which they require ; their dormitories and 
reception-rooms for the men in one section and for the women 
in another, — their storage places, kitchens, and corrales. The 
houses of the principal men and chiefs, particularly those of 
the kings, are very large, and have such massive woodwork 
that it appears almost impossible that human strength and 
industry could have put it in place, as is to be seen to-day in 
the ruins in this city, and especially in those of the house of 
Nezahualcoyotzin, which is in the square. More than one 
thousand men might be lodged in them. They stand on plat- 
forms, the lowest of which are one fathom high, and the high- 
est five to six. The largest rooms are halls twenty fathoms 
or more long, and as many wide. They are square, and in 
the middle are many wooden pillars at a fixed distance from 
each other, resting on great blocks of stone ; and on these 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 227 

the rest of the woodwork is supported. These rooms have no 
outer doors, only doorways with wooden pillars like those in- 
side, three fathoms wide. As these posts were of wood, and 
exposed to the sun and rain, they did not last long, but rotted 
below, and thus the house fell down. Still they did not decay 
so rapidly but that rooms remain which were built one hun- 
dred and forty years ago. From this we may conclude that, 
if the woodwork were covered and sheltered from rain, it 
would last much longer. This house is built around a court, 
very large, with the floor of a white composition, very bright, 
and steps around it by which to ascend to the great halls 

and rooms which surround it The character of the 

houses of principal and rich men is similar, but they are small 
in comparison with the royal ones, although, as it has been 
stated, all rest on platforms." ^ 

There is no reason why the architecture at Tezcoco, whose 
people belonged to the same linguistic stock as those of Cho- 
lula, should have differed materially from that of the latter 
pueblo. The roof is of identical construction, and we easily 
recognize in the so-called " royal houses of Nezahualcoyotzin," 
at Tezcoco, the "Tecpan," or official house, of which Cholula 
may have had two. Wood and stone were more easily ob- 
tainable at the former place than at the latter. For its build- 
ing material, adobe excepted, Cholula was dependent upon the 
slopes of the volcanoes, held by the tribe of Huexotzinco. 
I am, therefore, of the opinion, that the old pueblo of Cho- 
lula was mostly built of adobe, that walls of stone were only 
erected in exceptional cases, such as of official buildings, and 
that stone also may have been used for foundations and oc- 
casionally for ornaments. Lintels and doorposts, however, 
were probably of wood, as at Tezcoco. The perishable na- 

1 Relacion de Tezcoco, MS. The original, which belonged to San Gregorio at 
Me.\ico, has since disappeared. 



2 28 ARCIL-EOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

ture of this, and the friabihty of the adobe, are sufficient 
reasons why so few vestiges of aboriginal Cholula are left, 
and why, in the sixteenth century, its architecture was so 
quickly supplanted by one of better style and of more durable 
material.^ 

Of the religious structures of former times at Cholula the 
same vestiges still exist, which Rojas speaks of as two arti- 
ficial hills close by the great mound. These are called re- 
spectixcly " Cerro de Acozac " and " Cerro de la Cruz." The 
Cerro de Acozac stands about 400 metres (1300 feet) southwest 
of the present boundary of the great mound or " Pyramid," on 
the outskirts of the city, and in its southeastern ward. (PI. 
XIII. Fig. 10, B.) In 1641 it belonged to the " barrio " of Santa 
Maria Tecpan, and I infer that such was the case in 15 19. 
From the ground plan (PI. XIII. Fig. i), it will be seen that 
it forms an irregular trapeze, whose longest side (the north- 
eastern front) measures 45.3 metres (149 feet), the shortest 
(southeastern front") 16.7 metres (55 feet), the whole perime- 
ter being 123.6 metres (405 feet). It is a fragment with per- 
fectly vertical sides, about 15 metres (49 feet) high, and, if 
ladders are not on hand, it is accessible only through a 
crevice on the northeast front. Its top is overgrown with 
thorns and shrubs, and bears a cross. It can readily be seen, 
that the whole forms a solid mass of adobe bricks, without 
interior chambers ; but as to its former size I am unable to 
form anv conjecture, although I believe the height to be un- 
changed. The whole mass rests on adobe foundations which 
just appear above the ground on the higher sides, that is, 
A, B, and C, while at D, which is cut down i^j metres 

1 Rojas, Relaa'ori, etc., § 31. " Las casas estan edificadas y se labran hoy al 
modo que labran los Espailolcs, de piedra tosca, ladrillo y adobe, cubiertas de 
azotea, encaladas, las portadas sou todas 6 de piedra parda y negra labrada de 
silleria 6 de ladrillo que aqui se hace." Compare Torqucmada, Moitarchia, etc., 
lib. iii. cap. .\ix. p. 2S2. 



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STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 229 

(5 feet) deeper, they are so much the more exposed. The 
bricks, laid approximately level in adobe earth, measure 0.57 
X 0.28 X 0.12 metre {2^ Y^ 11 X 5 inches, in the foundations, 
while the superstructure, as far as I could investigate, appears 
to consist uniformly of bricks measuring 0.41 X 0.17 X .08 
metre (16 X 7 X 3 inches) each. Throughout the entire 
mass no ledges of stone are to be seen. 

I have met with but one interpretation of the word " Aco- 
zac," this is, impregnable wall. It may be asked whether it 
may not be derived from " aco," above, and " zacatl," grass ; 
but I do not think that this is the case. The same au- 
thority states that it was possibly called also " Ixtenextl." ^ 
'* Tenextli " is lime, or any substance which has lost its color, 
as the word " Ixtenextic " (discolored object) indicates. The 
name seems to be destitute of meaning so far as concerns the 
object and the history of the monument, and I could not learn 
any tradition about it.^ 

The recent excavations made for the railroad to Matamoros- 
Yzucar have disclosed the fact, that the foundations of this 
artificial hill are not connected with the boundary of the great 
mound itself ; that it stood completely isolated. But it is 
worthy of notice, that adobe bricks of the same size which 
compose the base of Acozac also form the whole of its north- 
ern neighbor, the Cerro de la Cruz. 

This mound, marked A (PI. XIII. Fig. 10), a ground plan 
of vhich is given in Fig. 2, stands about 250 metres (800 
feet) north-northeast of the former, and about 1 10 metres 
(350 feet) due west of the Pyramid itself. Its longitudinal 
axis runs very nearly north and south, and has a length of 
about 158 metres (518 feet), while the perimeter of the 

1 La Pii-dmide de Cholula, MS., note 4. Humboldt, Essai Politique, etc., lib. 
iii. cap. viii. p. 154. 

2 The MS. alread}- quoted gives it another name, " Tenochcatzin.'' La 
Pirdmide de Choliila, note 4. 



230 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

base, of which the form is very nearly that of an oyster- 
shell, is approximately 375 metres (1230 feet). Its sides are 
not vertical, like those of Acozac, but sloping in every direc- 
tion except in the northeast, where they descend in abrupt 
narrow ledges. The slopes are overgrown with the usual 
weeds and cactuses, and groups of copal trees stand on the 
northeastern declivity. The height of this mass, which looks 
precisely like a natural hill, is 13.5 metres (44 feet), and it is 
all of adobe bricks laid in adobe clay. The layers appear to 
be undisturbed, and their size has been given above. The top 
is in the form of an irregularly elliptic plane, partly covered 
with verdure, and its perimeter measures about 160 metres 
(496 feet). On it stands a cross, and near the northeast cor- 
ner there are foundations of red brick, 11.7 X ^-7 metres 
(38 ft. 4 in. X 22 ft.). These are the ruins of a chapel begun 
there in 1873 by an inhabitant of Cholula, but which was left 
unfinished upon his death. The hermitage that formerly 
stood on the same spot had been destroyed in 1847. 

According to a tradition current at Cholula, it was on this 
mound that Cortes caused the first mass to be said, in 15 19. 
I have not met with any documentary proof of this belief, but 
it is not at all impossible. ^ Many traditions of Cortes cluster 
about the portion of the town which borders upon the Cerro 
de la Cruz. The street leading up to it from the Calle Real 
is called Calle del Padre Olraedo, and the house on the former 
street opposite the church of San Pedrito, over whose door- 
ways a fragment of the Spanish imperial coat of arms, rudely 
carved, is still to be seen, contains in the inside the blazon 
of the city of Cholula, and it is said that here Cortes was 
lodged, and the so-called " massacre of Cholula" began. The 
corner of Calle Real and Calle de Chalingo is still designated 

^ Bernal Diez, Hist. Verdadera, etc., cap. Ixxxiii. p. 77, speaks of the erection 
of a cross and " humilladero " (shrine) by the conquerors at Cholula, but does 
not mention the spot where they were placed. 







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1ca;cualceia, City ok Mexico. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 23 1 

by the Indians as Ezcoloc (place where blood flows across).^ 
The obsidian flakes, knives, cores, etc., etc., so profusely scat- 
tered over the whole town, are most abundant in this same 
reo"ion. If, as all this seems to indicate, the Spaniards were 
quartered there, then the tradition that the Cerro de la Cruz 
was the place where the first mass was said does not appear 
improbable. 

Along the base of Acozac, and about this mound, conch- 
shells and much pottery have been found, and several large 
slabs of yellowish limestone, which seem to have been inserted 
vertically in the base of the hill. A number of fragments of 
these, some as large as two metres by one (6X3 feet), and 
30 to 40 centimetres (12 to 16 inches) thick, are to be seen 
in several places in the city. This stone appears to have 
been brought from the east side of the Atoyac, near Puebla, 
and the pieces are approximately square, and smooth on both 
faces ; but the smoothness looks more like that of use than 
of artificial polish. No other trace of workmanship is visible 
upon them, and I cannot comprehend on what grounds popu- 
lar belief at Cholula regards them as parts of the " stone of 
sacrifice." There is absolutely nothing in the appearance 
of the slabs that resembles any of the forms known to us 
of sacrificial stones from Mexico.^ 

The Cerro de la Cruz is a solid hill of adobe bricks, of 
uniform size, laid horizontally. But between the courses, 
near the base of the structure, a seam of white, tolerably hard 
concrete, 0.05 metre (2 inches) thick, is inserted. This ledge, 
as I learned by testing it with muriatic acid, is composed of 

1 La Pirdmide de Chohila, note 4 : " For esa razon conserva la esquina re- 
ferida el nombre de Ezcoloc, que quiere decir, lugar adonde cruzo, 6 corrio la 
sangre." The etymology is correct. " Etztli " is blood, and " Colotzin " cross. 
But it might also be derived from " nitla-coloa," to go around, to bend, to wind 
or curl. Molina, Vocabulario, ii. fol. 24. 

2 Orozco y Berra, El Cicauhxicalli de Tizoc, in the Anales del Museo, vol. i. 
no. I. 



232 ARCHyEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

carbonate of lime, mixed with small fragments of lava and 
minute pebbles, and therefore appears to be artificial. 

There can be no doubt of the fact that the two mounds, 
which I have now described, were originally mounds of wor- 
ship. As such they formed truncated pyramids, each sup- 
porting one, or perhaps two, small structures, like chapels, 
resembling towers in their size and isolated position. Exam- 
ples of this kind of architecture are still to be found preserved 
in many places throughout Mexico and Central America. 
Such are Papantla and Tuzapan on the coast of Vera Cruz, 
Huatusco on the western slope of the Cordillera in the same 
State, Monte-Alban in Oaxaca, Tehuantepec in the same 
State, Palenquc in Chiapas, and Uxmal, Chichen-Itza, and 
others in Yucatan.^ 

It may be interesting to compare what one of the earliest 
missionaries, the celebrated Motolinia, says of the mode of 
construction of Mexican mounds of worship. After describ- 
ing the square court surrounding the mound or mounds, he 
continues as follows : — 

" In the most prominent part of this court there stood a 
great rectangular base, one of which I measured at Tenanyo- 
can in order to write this ; and found it to be forty fathoms 
from corner to corner. This they filled up solid, stuiifing it 
within with stone, clay, adobe, or well-pounded earth, and 
faced it with a wall of stone ; and as it rose they made it in- 
cline inwards, and at every fathom and a half or two fathoms 
of height they made a stage. Thus there was a broad founda- 
tion, and on it walls narrowing to the top, both by reason of 
the stages as well as by the slope, until at a height of thirty- 
four to thirty-five fathoms the teocalli was seven or eight fath- 
oms smaller on each side than below. On the west side were 

' For plates of all these edifices I refer the reader to Bancroft's Native Races, 
vol. iv., and Short's North Americans of Antiquity. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 233 

the steps by which to ascend, and on the summit were erected 
two altars close by the eastern edge, not leaving more space 
behind them than sufficient for a walk. One of these altars 
was on the right, the other on the left, and each one had its 
walls and roof like a chapel. The large teocallis had two 
altars, the others one, and each had its covered house. The 
(Treat ones were of three stories over the altars, with their 
ceilings fairly high. The base also was as high as a great 
tower, so that it could be seen from afar. Each chapel stood 
by itself, and one might walk around it, and in front of the 
altars there was a great open space where they sacrificed." ^ 

It is perhaps possible that the great slabs previously men- 
tioned, found on the lower slopes of the Cerro de la Cruz, may 
have belonged to the stonework of one of its former stages, 
where the stairway ascended to its summit. 

East of the Cerro de la Cruz, separated from it by cul- 
tivated lots containing magueys and an occasional copal tree, 
arises the colossal mound to which, since the time of Hum- 
boldt, the name of the " Pyramid of Cholula " has been given. 
(Plate XIII. Fig. 10, and Plate XIV.) It stands out boldly, 
with the beautiful church of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios 
on its summit, almost overshadowing the town of Cholula be- 
neath. From the upper platform there spreads out a wide 
landscape, while it is itself also a landmark visible from a 
great distance. This is due partly to its isolated position, 
partly to its enormous size. (See Plate XVI.) 

In close proximity the mound presents the appearance of 
an oblong conical truncated hill, resting on projecting plat- 
forms of unequal height. The term "pyramid" I do not re- 
gard as proper, and shall henceforth avoid it altogether, using 
the more simple and adequate one of " mound," which corre- 
sponds to the current native designation, "cerro." Over- 

1 Hist, de los Indios de Nueva Espana, Trat. i. cap. xii. pp. (i'^, 64, 



2 34 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

grown as it is with verdure, and partly by trees, and with a 
fine paved road leading to the summit, it looks strikingly like 
a natural hill, along whose slopes the washing of the rains 
and slides have laid bare bald bluffs, and into whose bulk 
clefts and rents have occasionally penetrated. The projecting 
platforms both north and south (X and Y, Plate XIV.) are 
cultivated, and there are even traces of former tillage on the 
higher plateaus (Z^ and 7}). 

The mound stands outside of the town, and is mainly sur- 
rounded by fields of maguey. There are a few buildings 
along its base, but on the north side the structures of the 
new railroad are fast springing up. It can be regarded as 
bounded by roads • on three sides. On the north is the 
high road (A B) leading to Puebla ; on the south, the path 
(C D) in the direction of San Andres Cholula ; the west 
fronts upon the Calle de Monte Alegre (A C) ; the east 
terminates in a field. These roads give the sides of the 
mound a direction of from W. 25° N. to E. 25° S., and from 
N. 25° E. to S. 25° W. ; but this may not in the least indicate 
their original lines. Its base now forms a trapeze, whose 
sides, including their irregular windings, gave me the follow- 
ing measurements : — 

North line (A B) 305 metres, or 1,000 feet. 

East line (BD) 313 " 1,026 " 

South line (C D) ..... 254 " 833 " 

West line (AC) ..... 305 " 1,000 " 

Total perimeter .... 1,177 metres, or 3,859 feet. 

This gives an approximate area for the base of over 20 acres. 

Within this area, if we start from the point G eastward, 
we meet successively the following stages (compare plan and 
section G H). On a base length of 27.2 metres (89 feet), we 
rise 21.8 metres (7i|- feet), to the top of the platform Z^ and 
Z^ whose average width there is about 65 metres (213 feet), 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 235 

although owing to decay it now varies greatly. This platform 
is obliquely intersected by the paved road of Spanish con- 
struction, exposing vertical faces of adobe along its north side, 
and shaded by beautiful ash trees. The northern side of this 
platform (Z'^) is higher and more decayed than the southern 
section (Z^) ; it is also smaller and more overgrown. The 
trees on the latter arise almost exclusively upon its abrupt brink 
and slope, while they partly crown the top of the former. On 
the eastern limits of this platform begins a steep rise, amount- 
ing to 20 metres {66 feet) on a base line of 33 metres (109 
feet), to the summit of the whole structure, a polygonal plat- 
form, paved and surrounded by a fine wall. To this we ascend 
from the west by a broad stairway of hewn stone, 3.4 metres 
(14.2 feet) wide, also of Spanish origin. A portal with a stone 
cross inside it forms the landing. Four cypress trees are planted 
on this upper plateau, which forms a court around the shrine 
of Nuestra Seiiora de los Remedies (J). The length of the 
plateau from west to east is approximatively 61.7 metres (203 
feet) ; the breadth from north to south, 43.9 metres (144 feet). 
There are two more entrances to the upper court, one on the 
north and the other on the south, to which paved roads, and 
not steps, lead. The present appearance of the summit is 
entirely due to the Spaniards, as there is not a trace of abo- 
riginal work upon it. The eastern descent from the plateau 
to the point H is, as the section shows, an uninterrupted 
slope of 44.8 metres (147 feet), perpendicular on a base-line 
of 72 metres (236 feet). It is much more abrupt and more 
densely wooded than the western. 

If we ascend the mound from its south side at E (see sec- 
tion B), we cross the cultivated area Y, 23.6 metres {^y feet) 
wide, with a rise of only 16 metres (5I- feet) ; then up a slope 
24.4 metres (80 feet) in vertical elevation by 34.3 metres (112 
feet) base, above which is another platform 3.3 metres (11 feet) 



236 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

vertical by 39.6 metres (130 feet) base; then a slope 11.3 
metres (37 feet) by 24.3 metres (80 feet), to the top. Cross- 
ing the top and descending to the northward, there is first a 
slope of 17.8 metres (58 feet) base, and 3.5 metres (8i feet) 
height ; afterwards a steep declivity, overgrown with cactuses 
and thorny bushes, 32 metres (105 feet) in vertical elevation by 
only 14.3 metres (47 feet) base, which terminates on another 
platform 46.7 metres (153 feet) wide (marked X), which is cul- 
tivated. The latter stands, on its northern border, ^.l metres 
(23 feet) lower than the foot of the slope. F'inally, an abrupt 
descent of 8.9 metres (29 feet) brings us to the level of the 
Puebla road, whose width to F is 20.6 metres (68 feet) at the 
place where I measured. 

It will be observed, by the sections as well as on the map, 
that I began my measurements at points lying beyond the 
three roads enclosing the mound. This was done because on 
three sides I found layers of adobe connected with the struc- 
ture, and reaching far outside of the points G, F, and E. 
To determine the height of the mound, therefore, I must start 
from the spots marked respectively H, V, R, and P, and these 
afford the following results : — 

From the north or north-northeast (R) . . 62.7 metres, or 206 feet. 

From the east (H) 44.8 " 146 " 

From the south (P) 44-7 " 146 " 

From the west (V) 54-5 " ^79 " 

The average altitude, therefore, is 51.7 metres (169 feet). 
Other determinations do not vary much from this. Thus 
Humboldt found it 54 metres (177 feet),^ and the others vary 
between the extremes of Brantz-Mayer (165 feet) and of Pres- 
cott (208 feet).2 All these figures may be correct, according 
to the base adopted. 

1 Viies dcs Cordilleres et Monuments Indighies, vol. i. pp. 105, 106. 
■■2 Bancroft, N'ative Races, vol. iv. p. 472, note 13. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 237 

If now we turn to the topography of the structure as far as 
deUneated, we shall find, — 

1. A platform {7? and Z") of unequal height, lying along 
the entire western front. 

2. An oblong central mound, bearing the upper pla- 
teau (J). 

3. The depressions X and Y, respectively north and south 
of the latter. 

4. The platforms Z^ and Z^, northeast and south of the 
central cone. These platforms are both higher and smaller 
than the great western projection. They descend abruptly to 
the east, and between them the upper mound also sweeps 
down in an uninterrupted steep slope. 

The whole structure, therefore, as it now is, does not pre- 
sent the appearance of a pyramid, but of three distinct projec- 
tions, surrounding and supporting a conical hill, and separated 
from each other by wide depressions. 

The entire mass consists of adobe bricks laid in adobe clay, 
undisturbed except where erosion, earthquakes, or the hand 
of man have mutilated it. The bricks "break joints," and 
are of various sizes. I have measured them at many places, 
and have found so far seven different dimensions. These 
sizes are : — 

a. On the western slope of 7?, fronting the Cerro de la 
Cruz, 0.52 X 0.32 X 0.14 metre (17 X 13 X 6 inches). 

b. In bluffs of Z^ exposed by road, 0.58 X 0.27 X o.io 
metre (23 X 10 X 4 inches). 

c. In the central mound, 0.54 X 0.30 X 0.12 metre (22 
X 12 X 5 inches). 

d. Along the base of Z\ and at the southern base of top, 
0.50 X 0.24 X 0.12 metre (20 X 10 X 5 inches). 

e. At H, 0.40 X 0.18 metre (16 X 7 inches), height 
doubtful. 



23S ARCH.-EOLOGICAL IXSTITCrTE. 

f. In Z\ above those of the fourth size iiulieated, and along 
the slopes of Z-, 0.47 X o.JO X 0.09 metre 1^19 X 8X4 
inches\ 

i,'-. In the northwest eorner of X, northeast eorner of Z"-^, 
and southwest base of eentral eone, o.$J X 0.26 X 0.12 
metro 1^21 X 10 X 5 inehes\ 

The sizes appear to be irregularly distributed, the central 
mound alone being made, as far I could see, of uniform bricks 
of size c down to nearly 30 metres 1^98 feet^ below the top ; 
this was the case on one side at least. Oi the others, d,fy 
and g seem to compose the platforms Z' and Z- and the de- 
pression X, whereas the projections Z^ and Z^ ha\'e the large 
sizes a and b. The latter size comes near to that forming 
the Cerro de la Cruz and the foundations of Acozac. The 
bricks are all made without straw, but much broken pottery 
and bits of obsidian are found in the mass, although it is not 
alwa\s positively clear whether the^' belong to the bricks or 
to the mud between, and how tar they may have been washed 
in b\' rain ; for the mound has suffered considerably from ero- 
sion, and consequent slides. There are many deep fissures 
which show, as do also the perpendicular cuts marked on the 
map, that the mass is probably solid throughout, without in- 
terior cavities, and, if there is a natural hill in its centre, that 
it must be at all events a very small one. In some places, 
particularlv in the northeast corner, there are bluish alkaline 
efflorescences. 

Throughout the entire structure (^except the platform Z- so 
i.\v as its walls are exposed), there are horizontal ledges of a 
whitish composition, or concrete. These ledges are from 
0.05 to 0.15 metre v- to 6 inches^ thick, are hard, and 
composed, like those of the Cerro de la Cruz, of carbonate of 
lime mixed with small pebbles and bits of lava. I have not 
seen this material on anv vertical surfaces, except on the steps 



STUDIES ABOUT CIIOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 239 

of which I shall speak hereafter. The ledges do not run 
through the whole mass, but seem to occupy different alti- 
tudes in different places ; they are sometimes i metre ^3 feet;, 
sometimes several metres, from each other in level. At the 
base of the western front, the same substance seems to crop 
out everywhere, nearly at the level of the street, and it re- 
appears beyond it, between the mound and the Cerro de la 
Cruz, though in places it has been destroyed in the process 
of tillage. 

One or two fragments of white stone, similar to those 
extracted from the Hill of the Cross, protrude along the 
southwestern slope of the central cone ; they are much 
weather-worn, and appear somewhat displaced. 

But the most interesting discovery of all, perhaps, was that 
of regular stone steps, forming flights of stairs. They were 
distinct in three places, and traces were met with in two 
more. On the north side, in bricks of the size/", and close by 
those of the size g, what appears to be a pillar of stonework 
overhangs the Puebla road. Its width is about i metre ('3 
feet;, and it is nearly three times as high. It is constructed 
of slabs of light-colored limestone, Vjroken, and neither hewn 
nor polished, superposed in courses laid in adobe mud, and 
generally o. 10 metre (4 inches) thick by 0.30 metre (12 inches) 
wide. I was informed by the Licenciado Ybafiez that it was 
a ruined stairway. The body of it appears, therefore, to have 
been sunk into the adobe nearly 2 metres {6 feet;. I after- 
wards found well-preserved steps in the northeastern slope of 
Z^, where it joins the top mound, and on the southern base of 
the latter. In the former place there were three steps, each 
0.40 metre (16 inches; high, but of unascertainable width. 
Both their faces were covered with a very thin coat of a white 
composition, analogous to the one composing the ledges, 
which, like them, gave a strong effervescence when treated 



240 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

with acids. Beneath it were thin slabs of stone similar to 
those which compose the pillar on the north side. Still 
higher up, there were, in a lecess, remains of similar steps, 
but not in a line with the lower ones, which would imply 
that the stairway was winding-, or at least zigzag. 

The best preserved specimen, however, is the one on the 
south side, a view of which is given in Plate XIII. Fig. 3. Here 
there are two thghts of stairs alongside of each other, each 2 
metres (6| feet) wide, and separated by an adobe wall, i metre 
(39 inches) thick. The bricks in both places are of the size,^'-, 
and the separation is undisturbed, which shows that two par- 
allel stairways were originalh' built alongside of each other. 
Upon re-examining the eastern locality, I found there the 
same feature ; namely, after an interval of one metre of adobe 
to the north, other traces of steps, which implies also two par- 
allel flights of stairs. 

Near to H, I found adobe whose vertical face also is cov- 
ered by the same white composition, and on the w^estern plat- 
form, in the cuts exposed by the road, is debris which may 
possibly indicate the tbrmer existence of steps there also. 

Finally, I have to mention that, beneath the lowest adobe of 
the north and south sides irregular blocks of " tepetlatl " or 
yellow indurated clay, imbedded in adobe mud, appear in two 
places. It is apparently the foundation ; but in Cholula it is 
believed that even below these the structure rests on short 
upright pillars of stone. If such be the case, I was unable to 
obtain any proof of it. ^ 

Having now finished the sketch of the main body of the 

^ In the ;ulohe of the lowest western ;ipron a l)lock of lava has been found, 
which I saw. It rested at a depth of 2 metres (6 feet), standing on its edge, but 
the adobe around was not tilted nor in any way disturbed. Its diameter was 
0.61 metre (2 feet), its height from o.n to 0.15 metre (4 to 6 inches). The top 
was convex, like an inverted bowl, and it looked very much as the top of the 
great pillars at Mitla would, if broken. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 24 1 

mound, I turn to such traces of edifices as surround it, in 
order to find out how far they may originally have been 
connected with the hill. 

The railroad cuttings along its western front have ex- 
posed an uninterrupted layer of adobe bricks, measuring 0.56 
X 0.23 X 0.12 metre (22 X 9 X 5 inches), with but one single 
ledge of concrete visible. This has a thickness not exceeding 
4 metres (13 feet), if it reaches that dimension in any place, 
and extends so as to form a vast apron, possibly 400 metres 
(1300 feet) from north to south, and about 200 metres (650 
feet) from east to west. It is on this apron that the Cerro 
de la Cruz stands, and in or below it the four skulls were 
exhumed which I have already mentioned. Besides these and 
the bones, the adobe, which lies perfectly undisturbed, has 
yielded some pottery, one or two clay flutes, and much ob- 
sidian. But nowhere, to my knowledge, did there appear 
foundations of houses. 

On the east side are visible fragments of adobe hills, 
directly joining the mound at S, composed of bricks of the 
size g; and almost due east of H, at T, a low terrace crops 
out, built of bricks measuring 0.43 X 0.23 X o.io metre 
(17X9X4 inches). The distance between H and T is 
about 160 metres. The intervening space has been ploughed, 
but often fragments of adobe are brought to light throughout 
the entire field up to the path bounding the mound on the 
south. Fragments of ancient "metlapilli" and of very old 
pottery are very abundant there, and it is the general belief at 
Cholula that an apron existed there similar to the one on the 
western side, which would have been about 300 metres (1,000 
feet) from north to south by 200 metres (650 feet) from east 
to west. 

On the south side the slope runs out in the road E P, of 
which E is 4.1 metres (i3>^ feet) higher than P, the whole 

16 



242 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

distance between the two points being; 61.1 metres (joo feet). 
There are fragments of adobe, S, S, on both sides of this 
road, which itself shows traces of it. The field beneath is cut 
down abruptly, and yields i-quch obsidian and pottery. All 
these are indications, that another apron extended to the 
south, about 60 metres (200 feet) from east to west, and some 
300 metres (1,000 feet) in a north and south direction. 

The north side presents some seeming" complications. The 
point R is "jo metres (230 feet) from F. and 11.6 metres 
i^^Z feet) lower. The fragments S, S, as well as the mound 
Q, are both artificial, and their bricks arc exactly the size {£) 
of those of the great hill. The top of the mound is about 
at the level of X. The road R F sliows adobe on both sides ; 
and the inference is therefore not improbable, that the space 
north, which the points O R O F define, formed another spur 
on the lowest platform, whose area may have measured about 
"JO by 400 metres (230 bv 1300 feet), and of which the road 
F P, the fragments S. S, and the circular mound O, are the 
only vestiges remaining. 

Although the restoration of ruined structures is always a 
very doubtful undertaking, it sometimes is difficult to avoid 
making the attempt. In the case of the great mound, before 
attempting the dangerous task of re-establishing its former 
shape and of approximating to its former size. I must care- 
fully investigate its condition at the time of the Conquest, 
in order to ascertain as nearly as possible the changes which 
the past 362 years may have wrought. 

Bernal Diez speaks of the chief temple of Cholula as being 
higher than that of Mexico and having 120 steps. ^ But this 
edifice was not the great mound, and it has since disappeared, 

1 Historia Verdadcra, cap. xcii. p. 92 : " Mas era de otra hechura que el meji- 
cano, e asimismo los patios muy grandes e con dos cercas." The latter certainly 
cannot apply to the great mound. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 243 

as wc know from Rojas, and its site is occupied by the eon- 
vent.^ The earliest picture we liave of the mound is on the 
coat of arms granted to Cholula in 1540, and the first mention 
of it is about the same year, from the pen of Motolinfa. This 
blazon, cut in black lava, is preserved in one of the houses on 
the corner of the Calle Real and the Callc de Chalingo, and 
on it the great mound is represented as on Plate XIII. Fig. 9. 
It suggests a four-storied pyramid with a truncated top. 

Motolinia briefly mentions that it measured a good cross- 
bow shot from corner to corner, and in height also, — a very 
unsatisfactory statement, — and that it was overgrown at his 
time with trees and shrubs, and much ruined. He came to 
Mexico in 1524, and certainly saw Cholula and its mound 
within ten years after the Conquest. " There are on it now 
many rabbits and snakes, and in some places are fields of 
maize." (1540.) On the top was " a small old temple," which 
the Cholultecos affirmed was much larger in former times.^ 

Sahagun only mentions the " cerro, 6 monte de Chollan," 
stating it to be artificial, and that it was made for purposes of 

defence.^ 

A detailed description, of great merit, is furnished by Ro- 
jas : " In this city there is no other fortress than an extremely 
ancient hill within it, made by hand, all of adobe, which was 
formerly rounded,* and now, by the blocks of the streets, has 

1 Relacioii, etc., § 14- 

2 Historia, etc., Trat. i. cap. xii. pp. 65, 66. 

8 Historia General, etc., " Introduccion," vol. i. pp. xvi. and xvii. : " Los Cholol- 
tecas, que son los que de ella (Tulla) sc cscaparon, han tcnido la sucesion de 
los romanos, y como los romanos cdificaron el capit6lio para su fortaleza, asi los 
Cholulanos cdificaron a mano aqucl promontorio que esta junto a Cholula, que es 
como una sierra 6 un gran monte, y esta todo lleno de minas 6 cueyas por de 
clentro." 0£ the latter there are no traces. Lib. x. cap. xxix. vol. iii. p. 141 = 
" Pues manifiesta estar hecho a mano, porque tiene adobes y encalado." 

4 The term "redondo" also means angular, polygonal, in old Spanish. The 
Pueblo Indians of New Mexico frequently call their " plazas " rcdondas, although 
they are square or rectangular. 



244 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

been made square. Its base has a perimeter of twenty-four 
hundred ordhiary paces, and it is forty ells high, and on it 
there may be room for ten thousand persons. From the mid- 
dle of this base the hill rises again, as a round mass, forty 
ells more, so that the entire altitude is eighty ells, to the sum- 
mit of which one can ride on horseback. On the top there is 
a level space affording room for one thousand men, and in the 
middle a large cross is planted. It is of wood with a pedestal 
of stone and lime, and stands on the identical spot where dur- 
ing the time of paganism was the idol Nauhquiauitl, as I have 
said. In the hill which this space makes there is still to be 
seen a foundation of stones, which appears to have been of 
some balustrade or buttress there erected. This is the famous 
mound, celebrated as much for its having been made exclu- 
sively for the seat of that idol, as for being a work of such 

magnitude Before the Spaniards conquered this land 

the hill did not terminate in a level, but it was convex, and 
the friars had it levelled in order to plant on it a cross." ^ 

Torquemada says the mound was never finished, and at his 
time it was completely overgrown and decayed, but that nev- 
ertheless it could be distinctly seen that it once had " stages." 
He further gives it a perimeter of " wellnigh a quarter of a 
league." ^ 

The Cavaliere Boturini, who wrote about the middle of the 
eighteenth century, after stating that the mound was "four 
stories" high, and that it was composed of four superposed 
terraces, adds : " The top was reached by a fine road, winding 
up to it like a serpent, as it is seen in a painting made of 
paper of ' Metl,' which I have in my archives." This how- 

1 Relacion, etc., § 32. 

2 Monarchia, etc, lib. iii. cap. xix. p. 2S1 ; lib. xvi. cap. xxviii. p. 203. The 
latter is copied from Mendieta, Hist. Ecdcs. Indiana, lib. iii. cap. xlix. p. 310, 
at least in part. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 245 

ever refers to the Spanish roads, and not to the Indian stairs. 
The painting in question dates from after 1594.^ 

It is clear that, among all the evidence produced, that of 
the coat of arms of Cholula, and the statements of Moto- 
lini'a, and especially of Rojas, deserve most attention. We 
may safely conclude from them, that the shape and size of the 
mound have not changed much since the Conquest. The 
sculpture in the blazon of the Spanish city is an ideal pic- 
ture, not intended for an accurate copy of nature, and there- 
fore the four terraces should not be regarded as indicating 
strictly the relative position of the four parts. Rojas, how- 
ever, mentions only two parts, a broad terrace and a conical 
hill arising from the centre, and it is clear that this descrip- 
tion applies to the identical mound which now is regarded 
as such. The two roads which intersect the mound on his 
map are the same ones forming its boundaries north and 
south at present, and it will be seen that there are frag- 
ments left on both sides, thus confirming my assumption of 
two aprons extending beyond the present bulk in the direc- 
tions named. That these aprons were lower than the plat- 
forms 7}, 7}, 7?, and 7?, is shown, on the north side, by the 
landing of the steps there discovered ; on the south, by the 
stairway which indicates the original slope of the surface. 
If the debris on the west side of Z* is, as I incline to believe, 
also the remnants of stairs, then the Calle de Monte Alegre 
m.arks the western front of the platform Z^ and Z*, descend- 
ing, as it does now, upon the western apron, whose layers of 
adobe are still spread, undisturbed, over so large an area. 
In the east the stairway on the northeast corner of 7? 

1 Ideade una Nueva Historia, etc., pp. 113, 114. Clavigero, Storia del Messico, 
lib. ii. cap. ii., has, in a foot-note, very ably disposed of this tale. He justly re- 
marks that the painting in question is of late origin. The first chapel or shrine 
was erected on the top of the great mound in 1594. Mendieta, Hist. Ecclesi- 
dstica, etc., lib. iii. cap. xlix. p. 310. 



246 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

clearly proves that the descent then was originally as it is 
now, and the coated adobe at H indicates the same fact in 
regard to 7}. But the central cone has suffered a consider- 
able change. In the first place it was reduced in height, as 
Rojas tells us, by the conversion of its conical summit into a 
level plateau; secondly, the earthquake of 1864, shook down 
the eastern end of the plateau itself, together with the rear 
portion of the church. The west side remained undisturbed 
on account of the solid masonry, and principally because the 
declivity was not so steep. 

I have therefore ventured to suggest a restoration of the 
mound, as exhibited on Plate XIII. Figs. 4 and 5. It will be 
seen that, contrary to Rojas, I have retained the two depres- 
sions X and Y. This has been done, not because I am con- 
vinced that they really existed to the extent and depth they 
now have, but in order to avoid restoration. I readily admit 
that they may have been largely deepened in course of time. 
But what I believe is, that the platforms Z' and 7? were origi- 
nally higher than the one in the west, just as they appear to 
be at the present time ; and thus we find, counting in the 
central cone, the four levels or plateaux which the coat of 
arms of Cholula indicates. It is not unlikely that Humboldt 
in his restoration of the mound may have been guided some- 
what by that picture, which he knew, as well as by the 
statements of Boturini.i 

Taking now the perimeter of the whole structure as re- 
stored, it gives us 2,360 metres (7,740 feet), or nearly one and 
a half English miles. This, reckoning the difference between 
Castilian and English feet, and in view of the fact that Rojas 
only included the outside fragments of the mound visible 

1 Compare Vites des Cordillh-es, etc., Plate III. or VIII. of the edition in folio. 
He mentions Boturini's name for the mound, and in Essai Politique, p. 150, re- 
peats the statement of the " quatre assises." 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 247 

above the surface, still agrees very well with his figures of 
2,400 " ordinary paces," while his altitude of eighty ells ( varus) 
equal to 67.2 metres (220 feet), if we take into account the 
decrease in height indicated by himself,^ comes very near to 
the one found by me on the north side. There is to me a 
very pleasing coincidence in these two results, obtained at 
an interval of just three centuries from each other. 

But there are questions to be considered of much more 
weight, and far greater difficulty of solution, than that of the 
original form of the mound of Cholula. These are. How and 
for what purpose was it built ? and, Who were its builders ? 

The materials of which the mound is constructed are earth, 
broken limestone, little pebbles, and occasional particles of 
lava. The earth is in the shape of adobe bricks, and is also 
used as binding material in which the bricks are imbedded. 
These were probably, or at least possibly, formed in moulds, 
but there is no trace of grass, or of the ashes and char- 
coal with which the Indians of New Mexico mixed their 
adobe.2 The bricks are sun-dried, not burnt. Limestone 
broken into slabs was used for steps and stairways, and 
pulverized carbonate of lime, mixed with pebbles and lava 
fragments, for the intervening ledges and the coating of 
stairways. 

The soil of the plain of Cholula is, in many places, very 
proper for the manufacture of adobe bricks, without any ad- 
mixture. The particles of lava and the pebbles resemble the 
sand which is met with all over the plain, in the beds of rivu- 
lets, and in exposed cuts. The limestone is found to the east 

1 Humboldt, Essai Folitiqiie, p. 151, states the surface of the top-platform to 
be 4,200 square metres. It has since been greatly reduced in size by the earth- 
quake before referred to. 

2 Pedro de Castaneda de Nagera, Relacion dn Voyage de Cibola, translation by 
Ternaux-Compans, 1838, ii. cap. iv. pp. 168, 169, and my Visit to the Aboriginal 
Ruins, etc. of the Rio Pecos, p. 57, note i. 



248 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

of Cholula, not to the west. Thus it appears that the material 
of which the mound was built was principally gathered on 
the plain about it, and the rest was brought from a short 
distance, in the direction of Puebla. This disposes of the 
stories, that the adobe was made at the foot of the volcanoes, 
about San Nicolas de los Ranches, or even on the other side, 
in the territory of Chalco.^ 

The bricks are laid in courses, or rather in columns break- 
ing joints, which rest on the ledges, all of which are hori- 
zontal ; I have not seen a single vertical seam. They are of 
unequal dimensions in the different portions of the structure, 
so that no two sections show only one size, except the central 
mound. This indicates that the building was not erected at 
one time, but is rather an accumulation of successive periods, 
the central part being the last one made. The ledges there- 
fore were probably coatings put on for solidity, and in some 
cases they may also denote a particular epoch of construction. 

Some portions of the adobe show alkaline efflorescence, 
while others do not. This leads to the inference that it was 
gathered from various localities and directions. 

From these various considerations, we are led to infer that 
the great mound of Cholula was not originally constructed 
upon the plan which it now appears to have, but that it grew 
in the course of time according to necessity. This would 
account for its enormous size, without resorting to the sup- 
position of extravagant numbers of population ; and would 
tend to show also, that, while it was the product of communal 
labor, it was built for some purpose of public utility, and not 
to benefit private interests, or as a token of respect for the 
memory of individuals. 

1 The story about Chalco is told in Spiegazione delle Tavole, etc., vol. v. of 
Kingsborough. That about San Nicolas I heard at Cholula. It would be hard 
to find near the volcano sufficient adobe for the purpose. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 249 

There is no evidence that at the time of the Conquest any 
part of the hill was used except the summit. On the contrary, 
Motolinia states that, within ten years of the first arrival 
of Cortes, it was abandoned and overgrown.^ This is further 
supported by the fact, that none of the conquerors mentions 
the great mound ; presumably because they all supposed it to 
be a natural eminence, as nearly every one is inclined to do 
now at first sight, and because the mound of Ouetzalcohuatl, 
which stood below, on the spot where the convent now is, 
attracted their attention. The summit only was occupied, 
and on it stood a " small old temple " dedicated to the idol of 
Rain. Probably this temple was a Nahuatl erection ; at all 
events, the worship there maintained was a cult of the Nahuatl 
of Cholula. The custom of erecting small houses of worship 
on high places was often followed in Mexico, and there are 
traditions of it still remaining. If the Nahuatl built this 
chapel, it must have been as much on account of the remark- 
able size and height of the mound, and of its isolated posi- 
tion, as on account of some former tradition of worship linger- 
ing about the place. They used the top, but neglected and 
abandoned the slopes. 

There was not even then any distinct tradition in regard to 
the purpose for which the mound had been built. Motolinia 
intimates that it was begun with a view of raising it as high 
as the snow-clad volcanoes opposite, but that its completion 
was prevented by a terrible tempest, accompanied by the fall 
of a huge stone shaped hke a toad, upon which the work 
ceased.^ Fray Pedro de los Rios, who in 1566 examined the 
Mexican paintings then in the Vatican, speaks of a tradition 
which attributed the fabric to giants, one of whom he called 
Xelhua, who built the mound in order to escape from the 

1 Historia, etc., Trat. i. cap. xii. p. 66. 

2 Ibid., pp. 65, 66. 



250 ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTll'UTE. 

flood.^ Durdn relates that he had heard that the Chohilteeans 
attributed the work to giants, thus assimilating the story to 
the Biblieal narrative of the tower of Babel.- Ixtlilxochitl 
refers to it in the same manner, and states that, after the 
destruction of the mound b\- a hurrieane, a temple was erected 
on its ruins to Ouetzaleohuatl, the catastrophe having been 
caused by that element whose worship he represented.^ Tor- 
quemada simply atftrms that it remained untinished,'* thus 
eopving INIendieta/' who in his turn, like l'^"ay Ilieronymo 
Roman/' adopted the statement of Mololinia. 

It is singular that the stor\' of its having been made as a 
place of refuge, sometimes in connection with giants, is 
handed down in various forms through the authors Enrico 
Martinez," Vetancurt,=^ and Boturini,-* to X'eytia.^"^ After him, 
Clavigero, in the year 17S0, positively asserted that the 
mound was to have been a monument in honor of Ouetzal- 
eohuatl,^^ and since his time various suggestions have been 
made as to the purpose of the monument. 

1 Sj>Ugamoue ddla Tinoh, etc, Kingsborough. vol. v. pp. 165. 172. 

2 Hist, de los Yndias, etc., vol. i. cap. i. i^p. 6. ~. 
s Hist, de los Chichinucos, cap. i. p. iq(>. 

* Monan/n'a, etc., lib. iii cap. xxix. p. :;So: lib. .\vi. cap. xxviii. p. 203: " Un 
cerrejon, tan grande, que en ticscientos anos no lo pudieron edihcar muclios 
millares de hombres." 

5 Hist. Ecil^sidsticas lib. iii. cap. xlix. p. 309. 

6 Iais Rc/'iiNicas del Miindo, 1 575, Segunda Parte, lib. i. cap. iv. p. 360. 

" Kef'ortorio de los Tiempos y Historia A'ittum/ desta A'tter-a Es/aFia, 1606. He 
copied Acosta, Hist. A'iit. y Moral, etc., lib. vii. cap. iii. pp. 457-459, but only 
mentions the giants, without giving to them any connection with the mound. 

* Teatro Mcxicano, Parte ii. cap. i. pp. 205, 206. Cronica de la Fn^.'iiuia, etc., 
p. 171. This author also mentions the giants, and speaks of the Mound as a 
" torre de Babel." 

•'' /</{•<?, etc, pp. 103, 104. lie attributes the fabric to the " Tnltccos," as a 
refuge from the deluge. Sahagun said the " Tultecos " were giants. 

1" Mariana Vevtia y Echeverri'a. ffistoria de .Ife/iio. 1836, vol. i. cap. ii. p. iS, 
attributes it to the " Ulmecas," and says it is a reminiscence of the tower of 
Babel. 

" Sf<»'ia del J/essieo, lib. i. cap. ii. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 25 I 

There are scarcely any traditions about the mound current 
in the district of Cholula at the present time, which are not 
more or less echoes of the older writers. Thus the story 
about the tower of Babel has been told to me frequently by 
Indians, with the addition, that the top of it was blown off by 
a hurricane and carried to the valley of Atlixco, or, according 
to another version, even to Spain. Many declare that it was 
a " temple of Quetzalcohuatl, but there is also a tradition that 
it was a fortification against the Tlaxcaltecos." 

The various Indian names by which it is called may per- 
haps throw some light on the present inquiry. The oldest 
appears to have been " Tlalchiuhaltepetl." " Tlalchiuani " 
means a man who works or tills the soil ; " altepetl " is a tribe 
or tribal settlement. This would imply " a settlement whose 
people till the land," and would appear indeed very signifi- 
cant. But we have also the etymology " Tlalchiualiztli," 
worked plot, and " tepetl," hill, which gives it quite a different, 
much more modern sense.^ Of the name " Chicon-tepetl," 
nine hills, I have already spoken ; and still another designa- 
tion, " Tenantzin de los Remedies," our mother of the reme- 
dies, is obviously subsequent to the Conquest. The name 
Quetzalcohuatl is an evident echo of the older writings. 

As there is no tradition which does not contain some grain 
of truth, this will manifest itself in that in which the most 
contradictory statements agree. In the present instance we 
have the great majority of statements in favor of the assump- 
tion that the mound was a place of refuge, and two which 
make of it a fortification.^ According to the ideas of Indian 
warfare, these terms are identical.^ But there is also the fact, 

1 The first etymology is supported by Rojas, montc; hccho a mano." For 
both compare Molina, Vocabiilario, ii. fol. 4, 102, 123. It is also written " Tlachi- 
naltepetl," which gives a very similar definition. 

2 The most explicit one is that o£ Sahagun, Historia, etc., Introd. p. xvi. It 
is indeed very striking and positive. 

3 Art of War and Mode of War/arc, etc , pp. 143 to 146. 



252 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

that the top was used as a place of worship, which is substan- 
tiated by arcliaeological discoveries. 

I have already alluded to the singularly favorable position 
of the mound for a " lookout/' — a post of observation. Fur- 
thermore, it stands in the midst of land very fertile and ex- 
ceedingly well adapted for the maintenance of a sedentary 
Indian population, but still by nature almost entirely defence- 
less. The Cerro de Tzapotecas, opposite, is the nearest hill 
which could have afforded shelter to a threatened population. 
This hill shows traces of an old aboriginal settlement, of which 
I shall hereafter speak. But it is remarkable how closely the 
profile of the great mound, as restored (Plate XIII. Fig. 4), 
agrees with that of the Tzapotecas (Fig. 8), or that of the 
Teoton (Fig. 6) and the TetlyoUotl (Fig. 7), two hills lying in 
front of the great volcano. It almost seems as if the builders 
of the mound had copied the outlines of these hills. The 
whole area of the mound, as restored, covers a surface of 
256,000 square metres (2,624,000 square feet, or nearly 60 
acres) at least. Of this, the central or upper mound occu- 
pied only 16,000 square metres, leaving the remainder of 
240,000, or fifteen sixteenths of the whole expanse, for the 
lower platforms and the projecting horizontal aprons. The 
disproportion between the two suggests the query. Which 
was built for the other.? That walls of adobe should have 
been built around a vast court surrounding an edifice of the 
kind called a "mound of worship" is plausible; but that 
enormous earth-works, amounting in bulk to many times the 
volume of the former, should have been raised for the sole 
purpose of supporting and ornamenting it, is scarcely proba- 
ble. There must have been another, more practical object. 

The central hill I have designated as a former mound of 
worship. Its size and shape, as well as tradition and the 
statements of eye-witnesses, agree in confirming this view. 
If we regard it then as such, it stands in reference to the 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 253 

other parts of the structure as the centre of a settlement on 
the level ground.^ If we imagine the plateaux and aprons 
around it covered with houses,^ possibly of large size like 
those of Uxmal and Palenque, or on a scale intermediate 
between them and the communal dwellings of Pecos and many- 
other places in New Mexico, we have then on the mound of 
Cholula, as it originally was, room for a large aboriginal popu- 
lation. The structure accordingly presents itself as the base 
of an artificially elevated, and therefore, according to Indian 
military art, a fortified pueblo. 

Who were its builders "i One thing seems certain ; namely, 
that the Nahuatl did not construct it. Prior to them, the 
Toltecs on one side, and the Olmecs on the other, lay claim 
to it, leaving out of view the race of " giants," whom Sahagun 
identifies with the Toltecs, and Veytia with the Olmecs. I 
have already alluded to some points which tend to suggest 
that the Toltecs were Maya ; and I owe to the friendship of 
an eminent co-laborer. Dr. Valentini, the further hint, that 
even the words " Ouiname," " Ixcuiname," used to designate 
these giants, may be merely corruptions of the Maya lan- 
guage. It is also asserted by the Father de los Rios, that in 
his time the inhabitants of Cholula still had an old song with 
words which they did not understand. If these words are 
correctly reported, they sound like corrupted Maya, and the 
surmise that the Maya and Toltecs were of the same stock 
gains plausibility.^ 

Whether Olmecs or Toltecs were the builders of the mound, 

1 Compare the beautiful description, by Motolinia, Historia, etc., Trat. i. 
cap. xii. p. 63, translated in Art of Wm', etc., p. 104. 

2 May not the " square house " described by Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, 
vol. i. p. 108, be perhaps evidence of this ? 

8 These words are given " Tulanianhululaez " in Spiegazione, t\.c.,YJm%^ox- 
ough, vol. V. p. 166. Rrasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vtth, Introd. p. Ixxxii., sepa- 
rates it into tlirce words, " Tulan yan hululaez." This suggestion is also due 
to Dr. Valentini. 



2 54 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

tradition is almost unanimous in stating that it was destroyed. 
As this cannot be taken in a literal sense, the tale of its de- 
struction, or at least abandonment, is so strongly affirmed, 
that we must suppose something of the sort really happened, 
not to the hill itself, but to the buildings standing upon it, 
which were possibly a pueblo, as I have suggested. Indians 
never rebuild on ruins, or repair them ; so the successors of the 
mound-builders of Cholula settled on the plain below, and 
the place of worship of Ouetzalcohuatl, his "medicine lodge" 
of adobe or stone, was again erected in the new pueblo. The 
summit of the deserted hill became the seat of another cult, 
that of Rain, practised in sight of the volcanoes from which 
Quetzalcohuatl was supposed to carry the beneficial moisture 
over the parched and arid plain. That the ruin of the mound 
pueblo of Cholula may possibly have been brought about by 
the Nahuatl, I have already stated. They were not altogether 
unprepared for a worship of Ouetzalcohuatl, and easily adopted 
him for their tutelary god, changing, however, the place of his 
shrine, for the reasons already assigned. 

Turning now to other remains of mounds of artificial origin, 
outside of the city, it will be observed that they are found in 
seven places, all marked on the map of the district (PI. XI. 
Fig. i). One of these spots, Tlaxcallantzinco (No, 8), has but 
very faint vestiges left, and I had no time for a close ex- 
amination ; neither would it have been advisable to attempt 
it, under the irritated and suspicious state of the Indian 
mind at the time. Neither could I even visit the mounds 
of Cuauhpan (No. 7). Although I regret this failure, I could 
not avoid its happening ; but at least I made sure of the 
fact of their existence. All the remaining points I investi- 
gated more or less, and have reached the conclusion that 
they represent two types of construction ; namely, mounds 
built on the level ground, without projecting platforms, and 



I iiini 




i»; ^" 



popOCPTApCTLl M /7 l'^''r-'"''yj'',y(vMM,HWl 



'limii ml mm 




STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 255 

platform mounds, resembling in form the great hill of Cholula 
itself. 

The first class includes Nos. 2 and 6 ; the latter, Nos. 3, 4, 
and 5. 

No. 2. San Andres Cholula, about i >^ kilometres (i mile) 
southeast of the great structure, is the base of a very exten- 
sive adobe structure, apparently without intervening ledges, 
at no place higher than about 2 metres (6>^ feet). In sur- 
face extent it is rather larger than the Cerro de la Cruz. 
San Andres was, as already stated, formerly a "barrio," or 
quarter of the pueblo of Cholula, and the mound therefore 
stood in the midst of an Indian settlement at the time of the 
Conquest, and it is in all likelihood later than the great one. 

No. 6. San Andres Calpan. This pueblo existed at the 
time of the Conquest, and long previous to it. The con- 
querors call it " Izcalpan." It was regarded as affiUated with 
the tribe of Huexotzinco, and was constantly at war with 
Quauhquechollan, Cholula, and the valley confederates.^ The 
present pueblo, with its monastery, lies west and south of a 
high hill, called Tepeticpac, or Tepetipac,^ a long ridge, now 

1 The word " Calpan" signifies place of houses; "Izcalpan," place of many 
houses. In what exact relations it stood to the pueblo of Huexotzinco, it is not 
possible for me to tell. It was probably confederated, and had an autonomous 
existence. The Anales de Cuauhtitlan frequently mention it. Duran, Historia, 
etc., vol. ii. cap. Ixxxi. p. 93, says that, at a certain festival of Huitzilopochtli, 
the victims for sacrifice had to be from " Calpa " also. The name " Ixcalpan " 
is given by Bernal Diez, Hist. Ve7'dadera, cap. Ixxxvi. p. 80. "E asi caminando, 
llegamos aquel dia a unos ranchos que estan en una cumbre de sierra, que es 
poblacion de Guaxocingo, que me parece que dicen los ranchos de Izcalpan, 
cuatro leguas de Cholula." The distance and description are very correct. 
Subsequently, Calpan formed an independent municipality, and the Archive 
General at Mexico has a number of documents concerning its quarrels with 
Huexotzinco about timber and water. 

2 The convent of San Andres Calpan is a splendid structure, but it is now 
abandoned, sacked, and decaying. It was in existence as early as 1571. Tepe- 
ticpac may be, and probably is, Tepetlicpac, " cumbre de sierra," crest of a ridge. 
Molina, Vocabidario, ii. fol. 102. This agrees very well with the character of the 
place. 



256 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

cultivated, sloping to the southwest, and descending abruptly 
to the barranca of Atiopan in the north, and less steeply to 
another gorge in the south. The whole hill, from which a 
magnificent view is had over the eastern plain to the volcano 
of Orizaba, is covered with fragments of pottery, and obsidian, 
whorls, metates, and metlapiles of the old form, and stone 
heads and whole figures resembling the " Indio triste" are 
also exhumed from it. According to current tradition the 
aboriginal pueblo stood on this site,^ and its Tianquiz, or 
market-place, occupied until 200 years ago the space imme- 
diately east of the convent. On the summit of the hill are 
low remains of a mound of worship, made of adobe. It meas- 
ures 40 X 25 metres (131 X 82 feet), and is at its eastern 
front 3 metres (10 feet) high. West of it no metres (360 
feet) is another round knoll, 30 metres (100 feet) in diameter, 
and only i metre (3 feet) high. The pueblo was well situated 
for defence, as well as for the habitation of sedentary Indians. 
The' ridge is high and very commanding : on the north the 
barranca affords a constant supply of clear running water, 
while the valley on the other sides is fertile and well irrigated. 

The mounds of the second class are located at Nos. 3, 4, 
and 5. 

No. 3 stands near the Rio Atoyac, and the tramway from 
Puebla to Cholula, after crossing the Puente de Mexico, 
describes a sharp curve around its northern base. On the 
summit of the natural swell on which it stands is a plat- 
form of adobe earth nearly square, much disturbed, and 
at places scarcely discernible. This platform occupies an 
area of about 40,000 square metres (500,000 square feet, or 
about 12 acres). It is divided from east to west into two 
equal portions, of which one is slightly higher than the 
other. It supports a mound whose base has a diameter of 

1 This is corroborated by the quotation from Bernal Diez. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 



257 



about 100 metres (328 feet), with a height varying between 
10 metres (33 feet) on the southeast, and 14 metres (46 feet) 
on the northwest. The western platform has besides an- 
other inconsiderable swelhng. The whole is undoubtedly 
artificial, and it is covered with fragments of pottery and ob- 
sidian, with metlapiles and arrowheads. Many of these ob- 
jects have been washed farther down the eastern slope, where 
the cultivable soil is eroded, and lie now on the " tepetlatl," or 
indurated clay, which forms the base of the hill. The mound 
has a circular upper platform, 9 metres (30 feet) in diameter, 
in which is a depression made by former treasure-hunters. 
This hole was dug on the strength of a belief, that from the 
mound a subterraneous gallery conducted to a great distance, 
where treasures lay deposited. When I explored the locality, 
on the nth of May, 1881, I found in the hole marks of a 
recent fire, and gum-copal partly consumed, showing that su- 
perstitious rites had recently been performed there by the 
Indians. The mound itself shows blocks of "tepetlatl" with 
adobe, and fragments of white calcareous ledges, but no reg- 
ular adobe was visible, owing to its condition of cultivation. 

On the western declivity stand the ruined buildings of 
the former Rancho de San Jose. They are partly built of 
"tepetlatl," and are completely abandoned at this day. I 
could not obtain access to the titles to the land, but there is 
no mention of San Jose del Rancho Viejo, as the place is 
called, in the General Archives up to 1641. The Indians 
have no name for the place in the Nahuatl idiom, and it ap- 
pears to be a ruin, abandoned, and forgotten even, at the time 
of the Conquest. 

No. 4. About 4 kilometres (2j^ miles) north-northeast of 
Cuauhtlantzinco, in the cultivated plain between it and San 
Lorenzo Olmecatlan, rise the ruined mounds of San Juan Te- 
peyahualco. I did not measure them, rain compelling me 

17 



258 AKCJI.EOLOGICAL /A'S/VJOTE. 

to return, liut T satisfioil myself tliat, wliilo the size of the 
largest mound is about equal to that o( the Raneho Viejo, 
they arc artilieial, ami oi' atlohe with slroni;- alkaline efflores- 
cenee. There aie at least three knolls, the largest one on the 
west siile, while the t\\\i eastern iMies appear like sueeessive 
stages oi' it. No tradition lingers alH)ut the plaee, although 
the walls of a large haeienda, now ruined and overgrown with 
opuntia. stautl at the loot oi the strueture. 

No. 5. The " Lomftas de Coronanco." The main road from 
Cuauhllant/.ineo to Santa INTan'a Coronanco, at about 4 kilo- 
metres (2^j miles) ivom the lormer. and I kilometre (-i mile) 
I rem the latter pueblo, passes between two artilieial emi- 
nences. These are the " Lomi'tas " ov " Ccrritos " of Coro- 
nanco, The northern one is 3.4 metres (12 feet) above 
the wheat-field on whieh it stands ; the latter is 1.7 metres 
{S/4 Icet) higher than the road. 'Idie hill is surrounded now 
by a draining ditch, that gives an irregularly polygonal shape 
to its base. Its actual ]>erimeter is 134 metres (440 ieet). On 
its southeastern slope, there are crumbled steps, much like 
those ot" the great mound ot" Cholula, anel with the same coat- 
ing. The entire hill is ot' adobe ; also an oblong mound south- 
east ot" it, which is lower and more decayed. I measured the 
adiobe bricks and found them 0.52 X 0.26 X 0.15 metre 
(21 Xio X inches), or \erv nearly the size (^i,--) of those of 
the Cholula hill. InMh mounds stand on a rectangular plat- 
form, which is ver)' well ilclincd on the south side of the road, 
measm'ing there 280.7 uictres (020 feet) trom east-southeast to 
west-northwest, and 5S.7 metres (192 feet) from south-south- 
west to north-northeast. The northern section is much oblit- 
erated, but I believe I am within bounds in assigning to both 
an aggregate surlace of 30,000 square metres (307,500 square 
feet, or 7 acres), of which the mounds now occupy about one 
fifteenth, whereas at San Jose del Raneho Viejo the propor- 



STUDIES ABOUT CIIOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 



259 



tion is one fifth. The platform is about 0.50 metre (20 inches) 
above the surrounding fields ; it is bounded on the north by a 
recent trench, which exposes blocks of " tepetlatl " beneath 
the crumbled adobe. The whole area is covered with pottery, 
obsidian, and the other usual remains of aboriginal occupation 
antedating the Conquest. 

The proximity of these mounds to the pueblo of Coronanco 
gives the impression that they belonged to a pueblo which 
stood there at the time of Cortes. Although there is no 
doubt of the fact that such a village existed then, it is by no 
means certain that the mounds belonged to it. The latter 
appear in their present shape, with a road passing between 
them, on the map of the grant of Cuauhtlantzinco of 1598, and 
the Indians of Coronanco have absolutely no recollection or 
tradition concerning them, beyond the fact that they call the 
smaller one " Xochiqueyac," or "place of the frog of the 
flowers." Besides, the village of Coronanco itself is sur- 
rounded by other plots, which show numerous and distinct 
traces of former occupation, and the present inhabitants in- 
cline to the belief that these were the places where their 
pueblo stood in 15 19, whereas the " Lomitas " were then 
already abandoned and forgotten. 

Areas Vv^hich, by the presence of pottery and obsidian, de- 
note the presence of Indian settlements before the Conquest, 
but which contain no trace of buildings or mounds of any 
kind, are not unfrequent in the district of Cholula. Besides 
those already spoken of, where mounds arise, I was able from 
personal observation to locate eighteen more, including .San 
Benito, which, with four others, belongs to the former range of 
Calpan, or rather Huexotzinco. Of the thirteen remaining 
for the range of Cholula proper, only three, the Cerro de Tza- 
potecas, Santa Maria Tonantzintla, and Chalchihuapan, are of 
any extent ; the others are very small, and only imply the 



26o ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

presence of perhaps a few houses. Tonantzintla and Chalchi- 
huapan probably existed at the time of the Conquest, but of 
the settlement on the hill of Tzapotecas there is no record 
or recollection whatever. §till it is an extensive area, the 
whole lower flank of the mountain from the northeast to the 
southwest being strewn with pottery, obsidian, and corn-grind- 
ing implements. It is not more than 4 kilometres (2>^ miles), 
at farthest, from Cholula, and faces directly the great mound. 
The original grant to the city does not include it. The re- 
mains there appear to belong to a considerable pueblo, which 
disappeared long before the Conquest, 

On that part of Cholultecan territory which has been but 
recently added to it from the former range of Huexotzinco, 
on the slopes of the volcanoes, considerable pottery and ob- 
sidian are found on areas about whose occupation by man 
tradition does not speak. These are the western slopes of 
the Cerro del Teoton and Pozotitlan, south of San Nicolas 
de los Ranchos, near the road to Atlixco. I have document- 
ary evidence that these places were unoccupied in the six- 
teenth century, and have remained so ever since.^ But the 
slopes of the volcanoes themselves, in some places as high up 

1 The "Pago de San Benito" was, according to tradition, formerly called 
" Cuauhnepantla," the interior of, or in the midst of, the deserted woods. Mo- 
lina, Vocabulario, i. fol. 86. There are evident traces, indeed, that the Monte 
extended east of San Benito. The place was settled about 1606, {Merced a 
Catalina Roxas,vo\.-&yiv. fol. 87,) but a hermitage of San Benito stood there prior 
to it,— on the summit of the Teoton probably, where the vestiges of it are still 
visible. The western slopes of that beautiful mountain were inhabited, and also 
its base. There are vague traditions about it extant, but they are of the same 
nature as those concerning the great mound, and my conviction is, that the settle- 
ment was no longer in existence when Cortes came. This is confirmed by the 
MS. which I have calledy/^/rfrt de San Nicolas. 

Pozotitlan lies near San Baltasar. On the map of the Popocatepetl, of 
1592, it is vacant, and there is no trace of a pueblo. The space covered by frag- 
ments is extensive. The " Monte " itself shows occasional spots which indicate 
former settlements, too small for pueblos, and suggestive of transient habitation. 
These spots yield pottery, but very little, if any, obsidian. 



STUDIES ABOUT CHOLULA AND ITS VICINITY. 26 1 

as the snow line, yield remains of aboriginal art which de- 
serve some attention here. 

In the " Monte," and in the little fields bordering it, statues 
of lava are occasionally exhumed, which are totally different 
from those of Cholula, Huexotzinco, and Calpan, or other 
places in the plains. They are much ruder, the faces are 
square, the eyes and mouths round, the nose is often indi- 
cated by a cavity instead of a protuberance. The hmbs are 
especially diminutive ; the arms generally folded on the breast, 
and forming curves instead of elbows. The largest of these 
statues I found at San Nicolas. It is a squatting figure, 
0.60 metre (24 inches) high, 0.32 metre (13 inches) wide, and 
0.16 metre (6>^ inches) thick. I do not believe that they are 
merely unfinished specimens ; they are too numerous, and too 
strictly limited to one geographical section. They appear like 
the work of a tribe which had disappeared before the time of 
the Conquest, and one much less proficient in the art of carv- 
ing stone than were the Nahuatl. The region where these 
remains are found is the same which, according to Camargo, 
the Olmeca and Xicalanca traversed, while shifting from 
south of the Popocatepetl to the territory of Tlaxcala. 

To sum up these investigations, we find that, according to 
tradition, the territory of Cholula was, up to the year 1519, 
successively occupied by at least three different stocks. The 
modes of burial, so far as ascertained, reveal an equal number 
of distinct customs. The architecture, so far as it is pos- 
sible to investigate it, shows at least two separate types, — 
the one of the Nahuatl period at the time of Cortes, the other 
that of their predecessors, the " mound villages," of which 
the great " Pyramid " of Cholula, and the artificial hills of 
San Jose del Rancho Viejo, San Juan Tepeyahualco, and 
Coronanco, seem to be representative specimens. Finally, we 
may ask if the facts, that the adobe bricks of the great mound 



262 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

contain pottery and obsidian, and tliat skulls have been found 
beneath its projecting western apron, do not hint at a still 
older population, with perhaps a different style of architec- 
ture. These suggestions are thrown out merely as queries, 
or objective points for further critical investigations. If such 
investigations should prove the erroneousness of my surmises, 
substituting for them, however, the absolute historical truth, I 
should be overjoyed, and regard it as the only benefit derived 
from my " Studies about Choluia." 



Part IV. 



AN EXCURSION TO MITLA. 



BY the first day of June, 1881, I had so far concluded my 
survey of Cholula as to make it desirable to compare 
the results with aboriginal remains elsewhere. This appeared 
particularly indispensable so far as concerned house architec- 
ture, — of which the few vestiges to be found in Cholula did 
not, alone, warrant any plausible inferences. I was repeatedly 
told, that the neighboring State of Tlaxcala contained remains 
of the kind I looked for ; but I had already travelled so many 
weary miles in vain, upon the strength of similar assurances, 
that, while not doubting the fact of the existence of such 
ruins, I still questioned, perhaps wrongly, their importance, 
and I decided therefore upon visiting locaHties where ancient 
buildings were known to be in a fair state of preservation. 
To visit Teotihuacan, or Tula, both of which M. Charnay had 
so diligently investigated, would have been to a certain extent 
useless, and certainly unbecoming, while Mitla, in the State 
of Oaxaca, though far to the south, seemed to afford the ma- 
terial which I desired. Besides, in his relation of the flight 
of Quetzalcohuatl, Sahagun makes the singular remark that, 
after leaving Tecamachalco, Quetzalcohuatl " made and built 
some houses underground, which are called mientlancalco."^ 

1 Historia Gene7-al, etc., lib. iii. cap. xiv. p. 258. Such misprints are very 
common in Bustamante's edition; they result from imperfect copying of the 
original, as I have satisfied myself, having consulted Bustamante's manuscript, 



264 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

It is easy to recognize here a misprint for Mictlancalco, and 
the subterranean buildings agree very well with the architec- 
ture of Mitla, or Mictlan. 

I left Puebla on the 9th o£^ June, reaching Esperanza early 
the following morning, and Tehuacan (in the southeastern 
corner of the State of Puebla) at four p. m. The rapid descent 
from Esperanza carries one, in six hours, from the chilly pla- 
teaux, through the arid Canada, 1,300 metres (4,300 feet) lower 
into the broad valley, where tropical fruits, occasional palm 
trees, and an astonishing variety of cactuses grow and blossom 
in patches. Tehuacan, now a pleasant town of 9,172 inhab- 
itants,^ was formerly the seat of an important Nahuatl tribe, 
represented as very warlike. It is not quite certain whether 
they were tributary to the valley confederates or not. The 
proper name was Teohuacan,^ — channel or gorge of God. 
Previous to 1541 a PVanciscan convent had been already 
established there, which enjoyed great reputation in early 
times.^ There are remains of great antiquity on the moun- 
tain slopes around the present city ; but I had no time to 
investigate them, and set out for Oaxaca on the nth of June 
on horseback, reaching the capital of that State on the i6th, 
at noon, after a tiresome and difficult ride. While it is very 
hot at Tehuacan, it is fiercely so in the narrow valleys, and 
we were thankful to reach Don Dominguillo on the evening 

1 Busto, Estadistica, etc., i. p. li. ; the whole district has 51,221. In 1746, it 
had 2,080 families of Indians, with nine pueblos. Villa-Senor y Sanchez, Theatro 
Americano, vol. i. lib. ii. cap. xxiv. pp. 350, 351. In 1571, 3,000 souls, with the 
subjetos, about 20 aldeas. Relacion Particular, etc., p. 28, MS. 

2 Mendieta, Hist. Ecclesidstica, lib. ii. cap. xxvi. p. 130, writes also "Teoa- 
can "; cap. xxxiii. p. 145, "Teohacan" ; Gomara, Seg. Parte, etc., pp. 432, 449, 
" Teouacan." The word is derived from "Teotl,"God, and " Uacalli," chan- 
nel, and is appropriate if we take into consideration that the people of the place 
were supposed to offer an unusual number of sacrifices. Motolinia, Historia, 
etc, Trat. ii. cap. v. p. 117; Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., lib. xx. cap. xliii. 
p. 481 ; and others. 

^ Motolinia, Historia, Epist. Proemial, p. 13, etc. 



AN EXCURSION TO MI TLA. 265 

of the 14th, — the lowest point of the route, and at the foot 
of the high pass of Salomea. The soil is dark red in many- 
places, and also deep sand for long and weary miles, while 
the whole vegetation appears to consist of dangerous thorns. 
Still the Indians raise two crops of corn annually. Through- 
out the entire region the dweUings of the aborigines, with a 
few exceptions in the villages, are made of canes or poles, 
sometimes covered with palm leaves, or with the narrow, 
pointed blades of the Maguey de las Casas ; between Tehua- 
can and the Canada Grande, I have seen entire huts, square, 
and steep-roofed, made of leaves of the largest agave. The 
roots are generally of a high pitch, and sloping on all four 
sides. Posts, sometimes stripped of their bark, and with 
natural bifurcations at the upper end, form the corners. I 
have also seen walls where the interstices were filled with 
clay ; but walls of adobe are not common. Not a nail enters 
into the whole construction, as everything is fastened by a 
strip of maguey. 

As in the State of Puebla, the Indian here occupies three 
buildings ; or, if there are only one or two, they still are so 
divided as to indicate three distinct sections, corresponding 
respectively to the sala, here used as a dormitory, the kitchen, 
and the store-room. Ethnographically, this region is an im- 
portant one. The Nahuatl language prevails until beyond 
San Antonio Nanahuatipac, on the boundaries of the State of 
Oaxaca. Thence on to the south the Mazateco begins,^ and 
the road passes not far from where the Cuicateco also makes 
its appearance.^ Beyond Dominguillo, and near the summit 

1 Orozco y Berra, Geografia, etc., p. 197, says the Nahuatl is spoken there ; but 
I am sure that the original idiom is Mazateco. It was, used in my presence at 
San Juan de los Cues. According to Villa-Senor, Theatro, etc., vol. i. p. 139, 
Tecomavaca contained, in 1746, twenty-two families of Mazatecos. 

2 I have not heard this language myself, but know that it is spoken in Cui- 
catlan, and near Dominguillo. Orozco, Geografia, etc., p. 1S8. Murguia, Estadis- 
tica, etc., pp. 222-225. 



266 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

of the pass of Salomea, we touch upon the Chinanteco.^ All 
these idioms are but little known and have been scarcely 
studied. At the entrance of the valley of Oaxaca the first 
pueblos are Mixteco ;^ thence toward the south and south- 
east as far as Mitla, the Tzapoteco prevails. A knowledge 
of the Nahuatl is of little or no avail. It is a region which 
I cannot too earnestly commend to the attention of future 
students. 

Aboriginal ruins are scattered over it at intervals. I have 
heard of important ones at Cuzcatlan, where a number of val- 
uable relics were exhumed about thirty years ago, — a place 
whose foundation is also attributed to Ouetzalcohuatl.^ I 
found there among the Indians the singular tradition, that the 
buildings of Sansuanch — as the ruins are called east of the 
Venta Salada, at the foot of the Sierra de Zongolica — had 
been the former home of Montezuma, from which he had 
started to conquer Mexico. The parallelism with similar 
traditions among the pueblo Indians of New Mexico, far to 
the north, is indeed remarkable. 

The pueblo of San Juan de los Cues, in the State of Oaxaca, 
derives its name from the mounds of worship, whose ruined 
heaps arise on the bluffs encircling this beautiful spot, where 
all the exuberance of tropical vegetation seems to be crowded 
together in the midst of a dismal valley overgrown with the 
spectral Canddaber cams. It was an excellent site for an 

1 Muigui'a, Estadlstica, etc., p. 222. Orozco, Geografia, etc., p. 1S7. 

2 Here I endeavored to secure some of the terms of relationship ; but it was 
tedious work, and T got only a few : — 

My father, Dii-tiii ; thy father, Dii-tiing. 
My mother, Di-ti ; thy mother, Di-ung. 
Crandparc7its, Huela; Hueliii. 
Father's brother, as well as mother's brother, Di-to. 
Brother, Nyani ; sister, Cua. 
I tried to explain the Gentile system, but they could not understand it. 

3 Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas, cap. viii. p. 91. 



A.V EXCURSION TO MI TLA. 267 

Indian village, as the bluffs afforded perfect defences for a 
pueblo, and there is water close at hand ; while the grove 
beneath abounds with fruit. I saw some of the old pottery- 
picked up among the ruins, and found it totally different from 
the kind that occurs at Cholula, — of a light ashy gray, not 
painted, very thick, and closely resembhng that of Mitla. 
Here the Mazateco language is spoken. 

Tecomavaca, about 12 kilometres (8 miles) farther south, is 
in the vicinity of important ruins. The village itself, among 
whose people the Mazateco has already become almost dis- 
used, lies on a sandy expanse, fearfully hot. The valley is 
narrow, but the rocky hills bordering the mountain slopes 
bear the remains of three settlements, the nearest of which 
lies 1 1 kilometres (i mile) and the farthest 12 kilometres (8 
miles) from the place. Some of the buildings are said to be 
in a perfect state. T\\q piedra del reloj, now at the Institute 
of Oaxaca, and a large carved block, also preserved there, rep- 
resenting a puma, are said to have been found here. 

I have been informed of the existence of at least three 
more ruined pueblos between Tecomavaca and Dominguillo, 
all situated on high bluffs bordering the picturesque moun- 
tains which frown down upon the hot and narrow valley. 

It is singular that, while the Nahuatl language is useless in 
these places, the local names are all in that idiom. This terri- 
tory was, at one time, invaded by the Mexicans and their con- 
federates, and the latter thereafter gave their own appellatives 
to the places,! communicating them to the Spaniards, through 

1 In regard to Tecomavaca, the following story is told by Herrera, Hist. 
General de los Hechos de los Castellanos, etc., Dec. iii. lib. iii. cap. xv. p. loi : 
" En el pueblo de Tecomauaca, que esta en el Camino Real de Gua.xaca a Mexi- 
co, iendo Moteyuma a dar batalla a los Indios en Zapotitlan, i pensandole, que 
se llevase en su exercito mas cuidado del regalo, i de lo que se avia de comer, 
que de las armas, con que avian de pelear, mando quebrar todas las xicaras, i 
Tecomagues, que son vasijas, de aqui quedo este nombre de Tecomauaca." 



268 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

whom they became permanent. It is certain that they bore 
these names in the sixteenth century. In 1670 there were 
parishes established in most of these pueblos, the Dominican 
order having charge of spiritual affairs here.^ 

Beyond Dominguillo begins the ascent to the pass of 
Salomea, one of the wildest and grandest in Mexico. While 
the road winding up to its summit recalls, in solidity and 
width, those which traverse the Alpine passes of Switzerland, 
the landscape is marked by more appalling grandeur and ex- 
tent of view. But fan-palms and madroiias alone cover the 
slopes, through which deer, pumas, and even the jaguar, still 
roam. Higher up oak trees begin to appear, and beyond the 
hamlet of Salomea, near the Cumbre, we enjoy the singular 
spectacle of a forest of oaks, palms and madronas. The 
Maguey de Mezcal grows at their feet, in large heads, like 
cabbages. This wilderness — interposed like a barrier be- 
tween the valley of Oaxaca and the descent from Tehuacan — 
almost reminds one of the Mictlan-Cuauhtla mentioned by 
Tezozomoc.^ About one hour's ride beyond the Cumbre, the 
valley of Oaxaca spreads out at our feet like another world, 
the dark mountains of the Mixteca rising directly west of us. 
The valley is reached near San Francisco Huitzo, and along 
the borders of the Rio Atoyac there are in succession three 
pueblos, called by the name of Huitzo, — San Francisco, San 
Pablo, and Santiago. The word is Tzapoteco, and said to 
signify a lookout or post of military observation on the fron- 
tier.^ Above San Pablo Huitzo ruined mounds crown the 

Mitla, or Mictlan, is also Nahuatl, and Torquemada, Monarchia, etc., lib, ii. 
cap. Ixxvi. p. 211, states that it was invaded by the Mexicans. 

1 Fray Balthazar de Medina, Chronica de la Santa Provincia de San Diego de 
Mexico, etc., 1682, fol. 228. 

2 Cronica Mexicana, cap. xxxvii. pp. 354, 355. There is another Mictlan- 
Cuauhtla in the State of Vera Cruz. 

3 Burgoa, Geogrdfica Descripcion de la Parte Septentrional del Polo Arctico 
de la America, vol. ii. cap. xli. fol. 204, " Huijazoo," atalaya de guerra. 



AN EXCURSION TO MI TLA. 269 

summit of a bare hill, and it looks as if there had been 
here a frontier village whose elevated position and excellent 
opportunities for defence justify that name. The Tzapotecos 
claimed the spot, and are said to have withstood there the 
incursions of the Mexicans.^ But the part of the Mixteca 
extending north of Huitzo was independent of the Mexi- 
cans, and at war with the Tzapotecos. The settlement in 
question, therefore, served against the Mixtecos as well as 
against the confederates. Following the course of the Rio 
Atoyac, we strike soon the broad and pleasant valley of 
Oaxaca proper. The mountains in the west are lower and 
barren ; in the east, the Sierra Juarez is picturesque and 
wooded. Vegetation in the valley itself is rich, but there 
are no palms. In their place, the colossal Ricinus, the 
Papaya, and hedges of dark green Tzompantli, so high as to 
shade the road, are the most conspicuous plants. Villages 
are numerous along the bottom land as well as the eastern 
mountain slopes. San Pedro Etla, with an imposing system 
of artificial mounds, ten in number, looms up conspicuously. 
They seem to rise on a vast platform, like the great mound 
of Cholula. Etla, whose aboriginal name was Lyo-vanna, or 
Loa-vanna (signifying "place of subsistence," according to 
Burgoa^), lies at the outlet of another passage from Tehuacan 
to Oaxaca, which is nearly one day's journey shorter than the 
route across Salomea. Etla was formerly an important pue- 
blo of Tzapotecos. Opposite to it, on the west bank of the 
Atoyac, near San Isidro, three pyramidal mounds arise on the 
Hacienda de Aleman. As far as I could examine one of them, 
it consists of earth and loose stones, with calcareous ledges 
0.35 metre (14 inches) apart, and o.io metre (4 inches) thick. 

1 Burgoa, Geogr. Descripcion, etc., vol. ii. fol. 205, 206 ; also Murguia, Esta- 
distica, etc., pp. 175-177. 

2 Geogrdfica Descripcion, vol. ii. cap. xl. fol. 199, " lugar de mantenimiento." 



270 ARCH^OLOGTCAL INSTITUTE. 

These artificial elevations appear to rest immediately upon 
the surface, and recall, by their forms if not by their size, the 
pyramids of Teotihuacan. Northwest of the city of Oaxaca, on 
the most northerly spur of^the Espinazo, the extensive ruins 
of Monte-Alban present themselves, like ruined castles. The 
city of Oaxaca itself lies at the foot of this ridge, between it 
and the old Fortin. Five valleys converge there, — the Valle 
de Oaxaca, Valle Grande, Valle Chico, Valle de Etla, and 
Valle de Tlacolula. These in fact form but three, since Etla 
belongs to the Oaxaca valley. The Chico and Grande both 
lie south, so that the city has only three outlets; — one to 
the north, from which we have just descended ; one to the 
south, towards Ocotlan and Puerto Angel ; and one to the 
southeast, to Tlacolula, and ultimately to Tehuantepec, or 
Chiapas. 

It was the northern valley in part, together with the neigh- 
boring one of Cuilapa, which formed the Marquezado, or the 
grant executed in the month of July, 1529, to Cortes, with the 
title of Marques del Valle de Oaxaca.^ It is interesting to 
note that this grant conveyed to the great conqueror 23,000 
vassals, who at that time were supposed to have composed the 
population of the region.'-^ If this estimate be true, a great 
increase of numbers has taken place within the past 360 
years, for the proportion of Indians to mestizos and whites 
is exceedingly large in the State of Oaxaca.^ 

^ Herrera, Hist. General, etc., Dec. iv. lib. vi. cap. iv. p. 105. Prescott, Hist, 
of the Conquest of Mexico, vol. iii. p. 320, notes 24, 26. 

■^ Herrera, Hist. General, etc., vol. ii. p. 105. 

^ Herrera, Descripcion, etc., cap. x. p. 20, says the bishopric of Oaxaca had 
150,000 tributary Indians. It also included the southern portion of Vera Cruz. 
Humboldt, Essai Politique, etc., vol. ii. p. 184, gives the population in 1803 as 
534,800; Jose M. Garcia, Ideas, etc., in Boletin de la Soc. Mexicana de Geogr. y 
Estadistica, p. 1 19, in 1S52, after Almonte, 525,101; in 1857,525,938; Garcia 
Cubas, 531,768; V>Vi?,\.o, Estadistica, etc., in 1878, p. xlviii., 733,556. The Mar- 
quezado formed only a part of the State. 



A A' EXCURSION TO MITLA. 2'Jl 

The city of Oaxaca proper is, like Puebla, of Spanish foun- 
dation, the royal Cedula bearing date 25 April, 1532.^ Its 
beginnings were so humble, and the first years so full of 
trouble, that in 1544 it had barely thirty Spanish settlers.^ 
Possibly an aboriginal pueblo stood on the site of the town. 
Its population in 1881 is about 30,000 souls, and it lies in lat, 
17° 10' north, and long. 96° 38' west of Greenwich,^ and at an 
altitude of about 1,200 metres (3,900 feet) above the sea-level. 
The climate is therefore pleasant and very equable, though 
not to be compared with the beautiful skies of Puebla. 

The Mexicans called Huaxyacac a region which is gen- 
erally identified with the present valleys converging at the 
city ; but the inhabitants of these valleys they called " Tzapo- 
tecos." Of the signification of the name Huaxyacac, (or 
Guaxaca, as it was first written by Cortes,*) nothing certain 
is known, and very little even of the Tzapotecos themselves. 
The latter called their country " Lachea" ;^ but of their own 
name for the tribe and idiom I have as yet found no trace ; 
and even Dr. Berendt has not been able to classify the lan- 
guage.^ Neither do we know anything certain about their 
beliefs, or traditions in relation to their origin. Torquemada 
has a story, according to which they were refugees from Cho- 
lula." Unfortunately we lack reports upon the Tzapotecos 
of the early times of the Conquest, except so far as relates 
to their contests with the Mexicans. The latter, or rather 

1 Murguia, Estadistica, etc., p. i6i. 

2 Juan de Zarate, Lettr-e h Philippe II., in Ternaux-Compans, " Recueil de 
Pieces," etc., p. 297. In 1610 its population was 400. Herrera, Descripcioii, 
p. 19. 

^ Garcia, Ideas, etc., p. 118, after Garcia Cubas. 
* Carta Ciiaria, pp. 97, 109, etc. 
^ Orozco y Berra, Geografia de Leng2ias, etc., jj. 29. 

^ Die Indianer des Isthnnis von Tehuantepec, in "Zeitschrift fiir Ethinologie," 
vol. v., Verhandlungen, p. 152. 

^ Monarchia, etc., lib. iii. cap. vii. p. 256. 



272 ARCILEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE. 

the confciloralcs of the valloy of Mexico, made incursions 
into the territory of the T/.apotccos from the direction of 
Tehiiacan, and, making; a detour around the pass of Salomea, 
threatened Ihcni {\o\w the oast antl southeast, where they had 

N 

ilevastated Tehuantopoc. How tar tlic)' penetrated towards 
the site of the present city is not known ; but after the 
Tzapotecos had wilhstootl the main onsk\n<;ht from that side, 
the Mixtecos attacked them from the other, and it was only 
the opportune arrix'al ot the Sixniiards in 1522 which pre- 
vented their destruction.^ Little is known of the social or- 
i^anization of the i^eople constituting this linguistic stock. 
Their chief pueblo is said to have been Zachila, or Teotzapo- 
tillan, — a short distance south of Oaxaca ; - but equally im- 
portant ruins are scattered over the whole area. Besides Etla 
(Lyo-vanna), I would mention Teotitlan del Valle (called in 
Tzapoteeo "the foot of the timber or mountain"), San Juan 
Teticpae (Zc4o-baa).^ Tlacolula (Oui-v-baa), and IMitla (I.yo- 
baa). The Tzapotecos oiYered human saerilices ; and their 
mode of worship and rites appear to have been in general 
analogous to those of the Mexicans, as were also their dress, 
ornaments, and weapons, and their warlike organization. Her- 
rera sa}'s that they went to war by barrios, or quarters, 
which are the same as the localized gentes, kins, or calpulli 
of the Nahuatl.'* It has been ascertained that they had the 

1 The main authority for tlicse talcs is, of course, lUirgoa, Ccogr. Dtscripcion, 
etc. ; also, Agustin do Salazar, Rdacion de Chilapa, MS. ; and Pedro do Ledesma, 
jRelaciou (/<• Oaxacn, MS. 

'^ Burgoa, Gfo^'-rd/ica Dcscripcion, etc., vol. ii. cap. xlviii. fol. :y:>\ cap. liii. 
p. 259, etc. Murguia, Estadistica, etc., pp. 166, 167. 

8 Burgoa, Gcv^r. Discrif>cion, etc., vol. ii. cap. xlviii. fol. 230: " Zecto-ba 
que quiere decir otro sepulcro, 6 lugar de euticrro a distincion del eutierro 
general que tenian los Reyes Zapotecos en el pueblo de Mitla, que se Uanio 
Yooba." 

•* Ilistoria Geticml, etc., Pec. iii. lib. iii. cap. xiv. and xv. pp. 100-10.2. Also 
on the Mixtecos, cap. xii. and xiii. pp. 97-99. 



AN EXCURSION TO MITLA. 



27; 



same computation of time, dividing the year into eighteen 
months of twenty days each ; their great cycle was also com- 
posed of fifty-two years, with thirteen divisions of four years 
each.i In fact, the Tzapotecos appear to have been a seden- 
tary Indian stock, forming one tribe, or perhaps a confederacy 
of tribes, living by horticulture, the chase, and warfare, and 
having customs, arts, and institutions similar to those of the 
Nahuatl. Of their architecture I shall speak hereafter. 

I have seen several examples of their pottery, and stone 
carving. At present, a very handsome glazed pottery, almost 
emerald green, is made about Oaxaca ; but the old pottery 
was invariably similar to that at San Juan dc los Cues, — 
light gray, thick, and without traces of paint. Its orna- 
mentation is much more overloaded, grotesque, and elaborate 
than that of Cholula, and the faces often have noses ex- 
actly like the so-called "elephant's trunk" ornaments of the 
Yucatecan ruins. Enormous head-dresses encircle rather 
than crown the face. There is not that striking copying of 
nature which some of the clay heads of Cholula exhibit ; 
everything is distorted by ornamentation. The limbs show 
the usual disproportions, and the figures are squatting, or 
sitting cross-legged. Sr. Chavero has, however, a beautiful 
head of a tiger, from Mitla, very large, with the upper jaw 
of a bull-dog ; and there is a stone figure of a puma at the 
Institute of Oaxaca. Its dimensions are: length, 0.81 metre 
(2 ft. 8 in.) ; height, 0.38 metre (15 inches) ; width, 0.26 metre 
(10 inches). I must observe, however, that, if this sculpture 
was found at Tecomavaca, it cannot be Tzapoteco, but is 
Mazateco or Mixteco. 

1 I5urgoa, Geogr. Descripcion, etc., vol. i. cap. xxiii. fol. 135, etc. : " . . . em- 
pezaban de nuevo al Oriente, y su ano a doze de Marzo." The names of 
the four year.s in Tzapoteco were, according to Chavero, La Piedra del Sol, in 
"Anales del Museo Nacional," vol. ii. p. 17, " quiachilla, quialiina, quiagolbo, y 
quiaquilloo." He quotes from Fray Juan de Cordova, Arte en LeiigKe Zapokca, 
Mexico, 1578. 

18 



2 74 AKC/LEOLOGICAL JXSTrrrTE. 

1 loft O.ixaoa on the i;th i^f Juiu\ on horsobaok, for Mitla. 
The roa^l (ollows the vallc\- of Tlaoi^lula until about four kilo- 
metres (J J miles) east of that place, auil thou turns arouml 
a low promontory of roeks into the (.hoaiA basin wlu-ro San 
Pablo Mitla is the only \illa>;c in sii;lU. The first loa_i;nes of 
the road pass over very fertile ground ; ami while there is no 
tirnber except oi^ the pietm'esque mountain sloi)es, almost 
the entire bottom beiuj;' under enltivation. — the enormous 
size of sini;le trees bears testimon\' to the excellenee ot the 
soil. They are mostly fig'-trees ; but in the ehurch-yard of 
Santa IMaria del Tule stands the eolossal " Ahuehuetr' {Cti- 
pressiis distic/ia), wideU known as " b'.l Arbcil ilel Tule." I 
measured the \ erv irregular perimeter ot the tiee carelully 
at one metre (3 feet) above the ground, and found it equal to 
40.2 metres (132 feet). But on closer observation it is seen 
that this monster is not a single imlividual. but a group of 
at least three, closely grown together. It is the swamp 
cypress, and the original component parts grew singly arouml 
a spring of fresh water, which still trickles out below, appar- 
ently from the heart of the tree. 

As the valley narrows towards Tlacolula it appears more 
barren, and salt marshes are traversed. Tlacochahuaya is a 
fair-sized village,^ and Tlacolula contains 4.164 inhabitants.'-^ 

' It lA.id ;\n Iiulian governor and ;iu Indian cacique in 13.13 Tlris appears 
fronv vol. ii. fol. 5 of Tioras in the archives of lyfexico. Two Indians disputed 
alv>nt the governorship, and the viceroy decided the question by creating the one 
" Oobernador " and the other •' Cacique." This shows an interesting parallclisni 
with New Me.xiw, and it wouUl be very important to know wl\at the oftice or 
dignity of " Cacique " really signified. In 1746 Tlacochahu.-\va had an Indi.u\ 
population of three hundred and sixty f.imilies. \illa-Senor, 7yi<\ifro, etc.. 
vol. ii. lib. iv. cap. i. p. 117. 

- Pntsto, Kttaifi'sficii, etc.. p. xlviii., gives to the whole district 37.373 souls. 
Villa-Sei\or, Thfatro, etc., vol. ii. p. 166, two hundred and sixty-two fan\ilios. 
Murgnia, Estatitsticas p. t6o, says: '' La fundacion de este Pueblo es antiquisima 

y de las primeras que hicieron los Zapotecos Su antigua vecind.id uie de 

cuatrocicntas personas de gente docil y civil, amigos del trato y mercancia." .My 
fisrures were criven to me bv the officers of the district, at Tlacolula. 



AN J':XCURSJf)N TO MI /'/.A. 27^ 

■ All the Indians arc Tzapolccos, and many rjf thorn scarcely 
understand Spanish. We meet them gf>iii<:; to or cominr^ 
frr)m Oaxaca, and they a|)i)ear to iis ifleriticrd in dress, rrifKle 
of carrying their bundles and goorls, etc., with those of Cho- 
lula ; only they are somewhat differently shod. Thc"cac- 
tli " of the Mexicans is only a sole; the Tzapotecos also 
protect the heel.' 

Among the Indians whom wc encounter on our way, a 
new linguistic stock appears for the first time, the " Mijcs." 
Their pueblos, perhaps the nearest of which is San Francisco 
Acatepec, fjr in their language Te-shyum, begin about three 
days' journey east of Mitla,^ anrl they go to Oaxaca for a 
market. 

Aboriginal ruins are scattered along the mountain sides, 

^ Ldminas, Trnt. ii. J. am. (>\ etc. 

2 The Mijes are not much known. I .saw and conversed with a number 
of them at Mitla. Their appearance, etc., was, of course, not different from 
that of the Tzapotccos and others. They are represented by Ilerrera, /fist. 
General, etc., Dec. iv. lib. ix. cap, vii. pp. 187, 188, as bearded, war]ii<e, and 
practising cannilKilism. They appear to be roving Indians, and it is certain that 
their country is densely wooded. To me they were exceedingly friendly, and 
gave me, among other information, a fragmentary .schedule of relationship, 
which I subjoin : — 

lutlhcr, fleclsh'y ; my ftt/irr, utz-doctsh'y. 
Grandfnlhcr on father and mother's side, ab-fle-i-cs. 
Brother of father, dc-i-cs-me-gfiug; also sister of father. 
Brother of mother, da-gus-me-giiijg ; also sister of mother. 
Mother, da-gvls ; my another, litz-me-daag. 
My sister, utz-un-mc-giiug ; my brother, utz-iin-me-gash. 
My son, ijtz-un-ung ; my daughter, riidosh-i-iing. 
My wife, litz-un-idosh. 

My brother's {or sister's) son, iitz-iin-zogmang. 
My brother's [or sister's) daughter, utz-un-zognish. 
My unele's son, utz-un-amagilug. 
My tmele's daughter, litz-un-zcgiiung. 
My aunt by marriage, utz-un-zeguiing-dcetsh'y. 
The Mijes now live in villages, and each family cither has three houses or 
ives in a house of three sections: the dormitory, " ma-itsha-ay'unash " ; the 
kitchen, "ma-utz-mai ; " and the store-room, "zash." 



276 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

but nowhere are they extensive. The pueblos consisted of 
large houses crowded together for defence. Remains of some 
importance are found near Tlacolula, at what is called the 
Pueblo-Viejo, which I shall, mention hereafter more in detail. 
Recent explorations have also, as might have been expected, 
disclosed the existence of mounds and other ruins, yielding 
stone sculptures and copper implements, at Teotitlan del 
Valle.i 

One legua (4 kilom. or 2.I miles) beyond Tlacolula, the 
road bends into the Mitla basin. Vegetation has been grow- 
ing more and more dwarfed all the while, for the land rises 
considerably, and once in that valley we are struck by the air 
of desolation and dreariness of the surroundings. The moun- 
tains arc neither particularly high nor unusually barren, but 
everywhere leaden-gray rocks protrude. The sandy soil is 
covered with a stunted growth of cactuses, thorny bushes, and 
occasional larger shrubs ; gray bluffs and ledges are scattered 
over it. A few small fields alone show that this ground is 
not as unproductive as it appears. Some ranches, and at 
the farther end of the basin the white church of San Pablo 
Mitla, arc the only signs of human habitation. Below the 
church extends a green i>atcli, — a grove of Cercus, copal 
trees, and thorny shrubs sheltering the pueblo. A few colos- 
sal fig-trees rise above it. 

There are no singing birds about, or even crickets. Beetles 
and large ugly Hemiptera creep and buzz among the bushes. 
Both varieties of the turkey-buzzard, the black-headed Tzo- 
pitotl, and the red-headed Aura, circle noiselessly in the air. 
Over this gloomy landscape stretches a gloomy sky ; the 
wind chills without refreshing or invigorating; everything is 
dull and cheerless. My stay at Mitla lasted until the 28th 

1 This information is due to Mr. Frederick A. Ober, the naturalist, who .also 
showed me some of the copper implements. 



PLATE SZII 




General Plan of Mitl.\. 



AN EXCURSION TO MITLA. 277 

of June, and during the whole of that time the sun never 
shone. It was the beginning of the rainy season, and showers 
occurred daily. I was depressed in mind and weak in body 
from illness, and it was with the utmost difficulty that I could 
move and work. 

The chief ruins of Mitla, in the Tzapoteco idiom called 
Lyo-Baa (entrance to the grave ^), lie north of the small 
stream running through the pueblo, which is dignified by the 
name of Rio de Mitla. (See Plate XVII.^) Another group 
stands on the southern borders of that rivulet. The church 
and curacy, built into the walls of the most northern ruined 
houses (A), stand on the highest ground. Thence it slopes 
southward to the group B and C, a distance of 85 metres 
(280 feet). On a slight swelling or rocky rise 250 metres 
(820 feet) west of B C stands E. These three groups are out- 
side of the village proper. At the northern edge of the latter 
stands the cluster D, 130 metres (426 feet) south from E ; 
350 metres (1150 feet) south of C, on the other side of the 
Rio Mitla, are the last ruins, F. The ground slopes gener- 
ally from north to south, and the river runs over a sandy bot- 
tom. On the north side the rock is bare in many places ; 
on the south, there is more sandy soil and earth. The main 
part of the pueblo, therefore, lies on this side ; while the 
church stands isolated, beyond and much higher than the 
river bottom. (See Plates XIX, and XX.) 

Mitla is an old pueblo. Fray Martin de Valencia visited it 
about 1533.^ There are notices of it in 1565 and 1574, at the 
Archive General.* It then had a Gobernador of its own, 
which shows that it was an autonomous community. In 

1 I give this translation as I received it from the natives. Whether it is cor- 
rect or not, I am unable to tell. 

2 From Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iv. p. 392. 

2 Motolini'a, Historia de los Indios de Niieva Espana, Trat. iii. cap. v. p. 170. 
* Vol. viii fol. 42; vol. X. fol. 2, 



278 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

1746, its population is given as one hundred and fifty fam- 
ilies ; ^ to-day, the estimate is not less than two thousand 
souls.2 Yet it has no industries or manufactories, and its 
horticultural products are not yaried. I have seen no pottery 
manufactured here, only thick sandals and a fevi^ skirts and 
"zarapes." The loom used for w^eaving is of the oldest pat- 
tern, and is fastened to a u^all at one end, and then stretched 
out. The weaver leans with her back against a rope or strap 
which forms the other end, so as to keep it stretched, and at 
first sight it seems as if she were sitting on this strap. 

Every year, on the third Sunday of October, a great fair is 
held at Tlacolula, which lasts three days, and draws crowds 
of people to that place. Indians visit the fair from as far 
away as Tehuantepec ; and at the same time they go to Mitla 
with all sorts of presents, importuning the Cura to say masses 
for the delivery ot the souls of their ancestors who died be- 
fore the Conquest, who, they believe, are restlessly haunting 
the ruins. I have not been able to trace this custom back to 
any great antiquity, and none of the authors known to me, 
of the seventeenth century for instance, make any mention of 
it. The conclusion, therefore, of my informants at Mitla, 
that it indicates that the place was formerly a great Indian 
sanctuary, or at least a famous place of public burial, appears 
to me somewhat problematical. 

The appearance which the ruins present, and the impres- 
sion which they create, are certainly very striking. They 
stand in the midst of this gloomy and cheerless landscape, 
like the relics of another world. Their ornamentation also, 
composed exclusively of geometrical forms, without any hu- 
man or animal shapes whatever, the absence of vegetation, 
the dismal silence that reigns around them, all contribute 

1 Villa-Senor y Sanchez, Thcatro Americano, vol. ii. lib. iv. cap. xiii. p. 166. 
'^ Official data from Tlacolula. 




3S-v'/ 




-Zfj/" 



k;; 




a n 

1 DH J 



U 



Plans of Ruins, Mitla. 



AN EXCURSION TO MITLA. 279 

to give an air of weirdness which overwhelms and be- 
wilders. 

I had seen, in the Library of the Institute of Oaxaca, mag- 
nificent ground plans and drawings of Mitla, the excellent 
work of Mr. E. L. Miihlenpfordt. The fine photographs of 
M. Charnay 1 and of Herbruger,^ and most of the literature 
relating to the place, were also somewhat familiar to me. 
Still, I hoped that an accurate study of the premises might 
throw some light on the great riddles which they involve. 

I began at the most northern end, the cluster A, part 
of which is now converted into the church and the curacy, 
securing, after much trouble, the ground plan. (See Plate 
XVIII.) 

This gave me three connected rectangular " blocks," desig- 
nated respectively, from north to south, A III., A II., A I., 
and each enclosing a court. A III. has its northvvestern 
corner obHterated, and the northern and eastern outer walls 
reduced to mere foundations ; therefore, only the inner walls 
are perfect to a moderate height. It appears to have been 
formed of four narrow rectangles touching at their interior 
corners. The northern and eastern are so far complete as to 
exhibit their former shape and size. The first one measures 
17.96 metres (59 feet) from east to west, and ^.6 metres (11 
ft. 10 in.) from north to south, outside. Subtracting there- 
fore the thickness of the walls, 1.26 metres (49 inches), in 
every direction, the inside is easily ascertained. The eastern 
room is 20.8 metres {6% feet) from north to south, and 3.76 
metres (12 ft. 4 in.) from east to west, always outside meas- 
ure, and the fragments remaining on the west indicate a room 
there of the same length, and only 0.16 metre (6 inches) less in 

1 Cites et Ruims Americaines, 1863. Atlas in folio. 

2 Emiiio Herbriiger Album de Vistas fotogrdficas de las Antiguas Ruinas de 
los Palacios de MUla, Oaxaca, 1S74. 34 very excellent views. 



28o ARCHAEOLOGICAL IXSTITUTE, 

width. '\\\c southern room luul an insiilo wi^lth of .'.:; metres 
(S k-ol\ ami a length oonospoiuliiiL^ lo the ouo opiiosito. Tliis 
Ic.uos tor tho interior oourl 15.5 metres (^51 teet") trom south 
to wt'st. In 1 S. ; metres (^(ki tee^") irom west \o south. It is 
i|uite eertain that the northern, southern, aiul western rooms 
were entireh' elosed trom the oulsiile, hut I am n^^t positive 
as regards the eastern. The opening;' or hreaeh in the foun- 
dation, .?. is diieeth' iipposito the umloubtodly aboriginal 
entranee, /', .uul the latter faees the lintel, <•. over the former 
entr.mee to the western apartment. \\ hile it is easy to see 
that three doorwa\s. sepaiated h\' narrow pill.irs, </ </, led 
into the norlheiii win;;', we eannot an\- longer re-establish 
the toinier doorw.us ot" the southern room, as everything" has 
beeome eontused b\- the opening ot the passage c <: Rut 
the angul.ir ecnaiilor /" /" is aboriginal, lis loof eonsists of 
1km\\' ilags ot stone, showing .1 tr.ipe.-oid.il eross-seetion, 
e.ipped b\- a thiek l.ner ol e.irth. I shall herealter return 
lo the eonstruetion ol the p.issage. 

This '■ middle " part ot .\ 11. is of \er\' dihieult aecess, 
owing to the great ehanges whieh the .uldition ol the euracy 
has oeeasioned. 1 ha\'e not been .ible, lor instanee, [o fnul a 
single aboriginal iloorwa\-, but hope th.il subsequent observers 
ma\- ha\e better sueeess. Still, the same leatures repeat 
themsehes, as in A 111 , tour wings, meeting at their inte- 
rior eorners, and enelosing .1 eourt, whieh, as tar as I ean 
eompute, from paitial me.isurements, was 10,5 metres y(\). teel) 
from east to west, b\- 1 ~.S metres (^58 ft. 5 in.^ from north lo 
soulh. The width ol the eastein room was, inside, J. 5 metres 
fS feet^ ; oi the northeri\, the s.une ; o( the southern. j,o metres 
(^o.l feet") ; and it is \er\' likeb' th.it ihe western h.ul .ibout the 
s.tme dimensions. 

(.M the most southern seetion ol A 1. onb' the outlines 
remain. rhe\' give us an eastern room, measuring inside -4.5 



A A' EXCURSION TO iMlTLA. 28 1 

X 2.5 metres (30 X 8 feet), and a southern, probably 18.2 X 
2.5 metres (70 X 8 feet), Tlie other siilcs have been lost in 
the church, and are therefore [)urely conjectural. Slill, there 
is every probability that they corresponded to the others in 
size, which gives for A I. an interior court 24.5 X i8.2 metres 
(80 X 70 feet). Building A, therefore, appears to have been 
composed of three connected blocks, enclosing an ecpial num- 
ber of rectani;u]ar courts, and consisting each of four long and 
narrow halls or apartments. As no partitions are visible, 
there were consequently twelve of these apartments in the 
whole structure. 

The northern wall of the inside court of A III. bears very 
interesting paintings, but owing to the absence of the Cura, 
and the consequent closing of the curacy, I could not copy 
them. In regard to the lintels and walls, I would refer to 
subsequent pages of this report, and would merely state that 
the northern wall is buried on the outside to the base of its 
lintels, by rubbish as well as by earth gradually swept down 
against it. 

The second group, B, consists of tluxe, perhaps four, ^q.\)i\- 
rate edifices, of which only two (B I. and B II.), which in fact 
constitute together but one, arc entire. (See Plate XVIII.) 
Fragments are left of B III., but of B IV. only the rubbish 
pile of a terrace. Still, the three or four together enclose an 
interior court, whose dimensions are respectively 51 metres 
(167 feet) from north to south, and 38 metres (125 feet) from 
east to west. Although the cluster of houses B I. rests ap- 
parently on the ground, the three parts of B II. stand on ele- 
vated projecting [)latforms, made of rubble-stone. The height 
of the most northerly terrace B I. is about 2 metres (6 feet) ; 
its width from east to west, 21.7 metres (71 feet) ; from north 
to south, 21.6 metres (70 ft. 8 in.) ; so that it is nearly square. 
Along the foot of this terrace a narrow pavement of polished 



282 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

stone occasionally protrudes, which may have been laid around 
the whole structure. On it stands the building B I,, approx- 
imately square, and measuring outside, in every direction 
except from north to south, 1.67 metres (5.] feet) less than 
its terraced base. It covers, consequently, an area of 366 
square metres (3,750 sq. ft.j, and consists of four apartments 
around an interior court. The northern one is 8.8 metres 
('29 feet) long by 2.5 metres (8 feet) wide ; the one opposite 
has the same length, but is slightly wider. The western room 
measures 17.5 X 2.5 metres (57.] X 8 feet), and the eastern 
11.26 X 2.5 metres {n X 8 feet). All of these apartments 
have but a single entrance, and that from the inside. Not 
a single wall at Mitla has any wmdow or other aperture 
whatever, except doorways. 

The eastern apartment is considerably shorter than the 
western one, on account of the passage, «, communicating with 
the annexed great hall, B I. This passage is i.i metres (43 
inches) wide at both ends, and 7.2 metres (23 ft. 8 in.) long- 
along its eastern wall ; then turns at right angles and runs to 
the west for a length of 2.4 metres (7 feet), and issues into 
the inner court. At the angle it is considerably wider than 
at either entrance. It is therefore exactly similar to the one 
described in the cluster A, and the roof is built in the same 
manner. With the exception of such passages, all the build- 
ings or parts of buildings at Mitla are now roofless. 

The great and well-preserved hall B II., to which B I. 
bears the relation of a northern annex, also stands upon a 
platform, which no longer projects beyond the walls, if it 
ever did project. Its outer length from east to west is 40.34 
metres (132 feet); its outer width on the west, 9.3 metres 
(30 ft. 7 in.) ; on the east, 0.30 metre (i foot) less. Inside, it 
is 37 metres (121 ft. 4 in.) long, by 7.1 metres (23} feet) wide. 
This hall contains, at intervals of from 4.6 to 4.66 metres (15 



AN EXCURSION TO MI TLA. 283 

ft. 2 in. to 15 ft. 4 in.), and about equidistant from the north- 
ern and southern walls, a row of six round columns, each 
2.85 metres (9 ft. 4 in.) in circumference, and on an aver- 
age 3.6 metres (12 feet) high. This is' the celebrated " Hall 
of the Columns." (See Plate XXII.) It opens into the great 
court at a gentle slope. It is plain that the terrace upon 
which it stands was isolated, and that no connections existed 
between it and the terraces B III. and B IV. Recent walls 
of dry stone, e e, connect the latter with the southwest and 
southeast corners of B II., which were built for the purpose of 
secluding and preserving the ruins, of which the government 
of Oaxaca at present takes very good care. The platform 
B III. is 8.4 metres (27I feet) southeast from B II., and 
forms a rectangle much ruined, 2>^.y x 8.0 metres (120 x 
26 feet). Fragments of walls and a large doorway arc still 
standing ; also two round columns like those of B II. Recent 
dry walls, with entrances to the court at c and d, encompass 
the latter on the southeast and south. Then begins the high 
irregular platform B IV., forming the southern and south- 
western sides of the court, and reaching to within 8 metres 
(26 feet) of the southwest corner of B II. Its northern 
part IS, like B III., an irregular rectangle, 36.9 X 8.0 metres 
(121 X 26 feet) ; then follows a re-entering angle, 6.3 metres 
(21 feet; from east to west, and 8.38 metres (27I- feet; to the 
south ; finally, the tongue B V., extending 16.76 metres (55 
feet; to the eastward. The whole is merely a level pile of 
rubbish, with a bit of floor protruding at its northeast cor- 
ner.i It is considerably higher above the ground than B II., 
for the slope to the south is rapid, and part of its sides have 
been preserved by recent careful piling. 

A deep path, about 5 metres (16 feet) wide, separates the 

1 The floors of Mitla appear to be of white calcareous concrete, iu many 
cases painted "Indian red." 



284 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

cluster B from C to its southwest. The latter stands on a 
somewhat lower level, and is distinctly composed of four 
buildings (C I., C II., C. III., C IV.), resting on as many 
isolated steep terraces. (See Plate XVIII.) Modern walls 
connect them, and thus a^ octagonal court is formed, whose 
perimeter is about 182 metres (597 feet). The northern ter- 
race is 4.6 metres (15 feet) high ; the eastern, at its northern 
end, only 1.7 metres (5|- feet) ; the western and southern, both 
4.20 metres (13 ft. 4 in.). The court also is much depressed 
on the north side, its level being nearly 4 metres (12 feet) 
below that of the floor of C I. 

Terrace C I. is 35.46 metres (116 feet) long by 7.54 metres 
(25 feet) broad; C II., 42 metres (138 feet) by 9.22 metres 
(30 feet) ; C III., about 35 metres (115 feet) by 6 metres (20 
feet) on the east, and 10 metres (33 feet) on the west. Finally, 
C IV. is a narrow strip, 43 metres (141 feet) from north to 
south, and only 4.20 metres (14 feet) broad at the southern 
extremity. 

On three of these platforms a building stands, roofless, but 
otherwise well preserved. The one on C I. measures, inside, 
27.76 metres (88 feet) by 2.23 metres (7 feet) ; the eastern 
(C II.), 38.83 metres (128 feet) by 3.5 metres {\\\ feet); 
while C III. is 27.6 metres (88 feet) by 2.5 metres (8 feet). 
Each of the three halls has three doorways on the inside, 
which are 3.91 metres (13 feet) high for C I. and C II. ; 
C IV., however, is filled with debris to the height of nearly one 
metre (3 feet). 

The structure which crowns the top of the platform (C I.) 
has the reputation of containing subterranean chambers.^ 



1 The notion of their being subterranean is recent. Even Burgoa, Geogrdfica 
Descripcion, etc., vol. ii. cap. liii. fol. 258,259, speaks of upper and lower stories, 
"altos y baxos." Humboldt, Viies des Cordilleres, etc., vol. ii. p. 281, mentions 
" une excavation en forme de croix, soutenue par des colonnes." The great 



AN EXCURSION TO MITLA. 285 

(See Plate XXIII.) But what is generally taken for under- 
ground rooms is merely a basement, built into the terrace 
or platform which supports the structures. The southern 
front, however, is so covered with debris that there is a grad- 
ual slope from the floor down to the middle of the court ; 
and only at the entrance {ci) is the face of this basement 
exposed. Plate XXIV. Figs. 14 and 17, show a plan and front 
view of the same, made to scale. On entering", we find, first, 
a corridor 1.53 metres (5 feet) long, and 1.6 metres (5 ft. 
3 in.) wide. A round column, b, 1.7 metres (5 ft. 7 in.) in 
circumference, and 1.93 metres (6 feet) high, supports the 
roof. On botli sides of it, east and west, extends a gallery, 
6.1 metres (20 feet) long, and 1.63 metres (5 ft. 4 in.) wide, 
whose walls are made like those of the front, and ornamented, 
like those of the facades in many places outside. Lastly, the 
passage through which we enter continues beyond the column, 
so as to form a northern corridor 4.2 metres (13 ft. 9 in.) 
long, and of the same width. The whole, therefore, has the 
shape of a cross, whose arms are of unequal length, north and 
south. The column b stands almost underneath the front wall 
of the house above, so that the northern gallery penetrates to 
three fourths of the width of the terrace; while in the direc- 
tion cast and west the galleries only occupy about one third 
of the platform, or one half of the building upon it. Their 
surface area is equal to about one ninth of the base of the 
whole terrace. Behind the walls everything appears to be 
solid stone and earth. The roof is similar to the one over 
the angular corridors already mentioned in clusters A and \\, 
with flags 0.40 metre (16 inches) thick. On them rest 
2 metres {66 inches) of rubble and earth ; then comes the 

traveller, however, did not visit Mitla himself; and he places the entrance to 
his underground halls in building B II., cluster 15, which is an evident misunder- 
standing. Ili.s authority was a Mexican architect, Don Luis Martin. 



286 AKCIL'l'OI.OCICAL I XS'ITI'UTF.. 

stone sill, 0.28 inclrc (11 iiulics) thick, and 0.04 metre 
(2 inclu's) of door. 

In froiil of (' I. the corridor extends toward llio centre of 
the court, at a lower level ^'J'hcre is, consequently, a lower 
<;allery extending southwards ; but, according to the obscrva- 
lioMs of Mr. Miihlcnpfordl, il terminated before reaching;- half- 
way across to lli<; house (CUT.). Its width is 1.21 metres 
(47 inches), e.\cei)t where the descent takes place {c ol" iMg. 14, 
I'late XXIV. "). There, for a length of 0.8 metre (10 inches) 
il narrows down to 1. 10 metres (43 indues). The walls are 
similar to those of the higher passages, and the roof is also 
composed of heavy flags of the same size as theirs. It is 
thi-refoii' to all intents and purposes a covered gallery. 

The fourth iMcal cluster of well-preserved houses is found at 
1), about 2S0 meties (gJO fi'ct ) southwest of C. This group 
greatly resembles A in disposition ; also in the fact that it 
is built on the ground, and not i-K.-vated on terraces like \\ 
and C". It consists of three buildings, two of which (1)1. 
and 1) 11, I'late XVTIl.) are connected like A 11. and A Ml. 
of the cluster A. 'I'heir fom- looms also touch at the angles. 
The same occurs at 1) 111., whith stands apart ; but ol this 
only ihit'c wings are visible. The fourth oni\ if it ever 
existed, has left no trace behind. 

The northern wing of 1) 1. is gone, except fragments of the 
south front, which, provided its southwestern corner toueheil 
the westci'u wing, — of which, however, I am not absolutely 
certain, — was 16.37 metres (53 ft. 9 in.) long. It is frontctl 
by a southern room of the same length, and 4 metres (13 
feet) outside width, which conlirms the theory that the for- 
mer conueeled al tlu> southwest. Hut the space — 2.23 
metres (7 feet) wide — is so bare of all trace of buildings, 
as to arouse the suspicion that it may have been origi- 
nally vacant, and used as a passage into the interior ct)urt. 



AN KXCURSIOIV TO MllLA. 287 

The western wing is 16.87X27 metres (55 X -S An'I). Of 
the eastern, only the inner front is ]).'ully U'fi, luid i.c»7 metres 
(5J feet) of the southern walh i)iit the inner eourl is [)lainly 
defined, and measures 16.37 X i6.<S7 melres (S4X55 feel), 
or nearly a square. 

Building D II. lacks only tin; outer w.ill of ihe (Mslcrn 
wing; otherwise the walls are clearly delined. The north- 
ern and southern wings measure, each, 23.76 X 3.90 metres 
(78 X 12 ft. 9 in.) outside ; the eastern and western, each 
21.25 X 4.10 metres (70 X t3 feet); the court is therefore 
23.76X21.25 metres (78x70 feel). No outer entrance is 
discernible, unless it was situated in tlie outside wall of the 
eastern wing, which is not probable;. 

The northeastern corner of the north(;rn wing of \) 111., 
and the southwestern c(;rner of the western wing of I) II., are 
1. 71 metres (5^^ feet) apart; and the same distance separates 
the northeastern corner of the eastern wing of the former, and 
the southwestern corner of the southern wing of the latter. 
\) III. is therefore an indejjendent structure. Its northern 
room measures, outside, 27.38 X 4.0 metres (88i X 13 feet) ; 
the other two, each, 20.08 X 3.80 metres (66 X 12 feet). As 
already stated, there are no traces (jf a southern wing ; 
but Mr. MUhlenpfonlt, lias nf)ted its inner front as still e.\ist- 
ing. It is true that the court of D II. is much filled, in some 
places half-way up to the lintels ; and it may therefore be that 
the foundations on the front seen by this excellent architect 
have since become buried. 

The analogy between the cluster D and the one at A is 
now sufficiently striking. There is also in the former, at a, 
the angular passage or communication between \) I. and 
D II., already twice described. While D II. and \) III. have 
each twelve doorways, three on each side, the northern rec- 
tangle (D I.) had only eight, its eastern and western wings 



2 88 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

showing but one entrance each. A similar disposition exists 
in the corresponding buildings of the group A. In short, were 
it not for the isolated position of D III., the cluster D would 
appear to be a perfect copj( of the most northern group of 
buildings of Mitla. 

I now turn to the two remaining groups of ruins, marked 
respectively E and F on the general plan, Plate XVII. They 
are different from the others, in that both of them include 
mounds of worship. 

Group E lies 250 metres (820 feet) west of C, and 130 
metres (430 feet) north of D ; its ground plan is given on 
Plate XXV. Fig. 6. The main feature is a truncated pyra- 
mid, E III, now 9.2 metres (30 feet) high, and measuring 
along the base 54.5 metres (180 feet) from north to south, 
and 41.9 metres (137 feet) from east to west. Its western de- 
clivity is so steep as to be almost vertical ; the eastern slope 
is very gradual. (See Fig. 7.) In construction, it presents 
the remarkable phenomenon, that while the lower, and conse- 
quently much larger, half of its height is of rubble-stone, the 
upper half is of adobe. The single bricks measure 0.13 X 0.35 
X 0.05 metre (5X14X2 inches). No other binding material 
than earth, and even that used very sparingly, is visible be- 
tween the stones ; the adobe is gray, and laid in the same kind 
of soil. The irregular mounds E I. and E II. are about 2 me- 
tres (6 feet) high, sharply cut at their edges, and utterly ruined. 
They are both made of adobe, 0.25 X 0.16 X 0.04 metre (10 
X 6 X 2 inches). Their original form and size cannot even 
be guessed at. The little knoll E IV. is barely discernible. 
A modern wall connects the three principal structures, so 
as to leave E IV. in the centre of a large courtyard. 

The cluster F lies on the south bank of the Rio Mitla, and 
is the most ruined of all. With the exception of F III. and 
F IV., the structures shown on the ground plan (Plate XXV. 



AN EXCURSION TO MI TLA. 289 

Fig. 8), are merely decayed oblong mounds, utterly shapeless, 
so ruined that it is barely possible now to distinguish how 
far they were of stone, and how far adobe entered into their 
composition. F I. shows, towards the river front above 
which it stands, broken stones with earth between them, 
similar to the walls of the better preserved buildings. F 11. 
is merely a mound of earth, overgrown with verdure, from 
which stones occasionally protrude. The length of the for- 
mer is 30 metres (98 feet) ; of the latter, about 18 metres (59 
feet). Their height nowhere exceeds 3 metres (10 feet). The 
group south of the road which leads up from the river, a dis- 
tance of about 80 metres, or 265 feet, implies a large court- 
yard, in the centre of which are the remains F VII., which 
courtyard is formed by the decayed mounds F V. and F VI., 
the mound of worship F. IV., and the hill F III. The last 
is a rectangular terrace, 20.63 X 16.76 metres (68 X 55 feet), 
of broken stone, supporting the long narrow rectangles a and 
b, which are of adobe. There is scarcely more than a half- 
metre (i to 2 feet) left standing above ground of the two 
rooms mentioned, which are united, and communicate at their 
eastern ends. The room a is 2 metres {"jS inches) wide, and 
of undeterminable length; b is 15.5 metres (50^ feet) long, 
and only i metre (39 inches) in width. They stand at an ele- 
vation of about 4 metres (13 feet) above the ground, and nearly 
in the middle of the terrace thus formed. 

The mound of worship (F IV.) is 33.5 metres (109 feet) long 
from north to south, and about 25.2 metres (83 feet) broad 
from east to west ; its height is 9.3 metres (30 J- feet), and the 
irregular upper platform measures, so far as I could ascertain, 
about 24 X 23.5 metres (80 X 77 feet). Remains, or rather 
traces, of adobe walls stand on the summit ; but some of 
them also contain red brick, so that I am uncertain whether 
they are aboriginal or modern. This entire hill, whose sides 

19 



290 archalOLOGtcal institute. 

are now very steep, is of broken stones, with very little earth 
between. On the north side, at an altitude of 1.7 metres 
(5 ft. 7 in.), a white calcareous ledge, 0.12 metre (5 inches) 
thick, appears ; another similar one is visible at a height of 
about 6 metres (20 feet), and the top is covered by a layer 
of the same material, as by a floor. This latter is painted 
Indian red. (See Plate XXV. Fig. 9) 

There remain the two little fragments F VII. In height 
they do not exceed 1.40 metres (55 inches). Like F IV., they 
are covered by a white calcareous layer of the thickness of 
0.09 metre (4 inches). Fragments of a stone ornament, sim- 
ilar to what is frequently repeated in the other buildings, were 
found by me near this little pile. 

This closes the list of buildings or ruins scattered about the 
pueblo of San Pablo Mitla. I am inclined to believe, also, 
that these are all which ever existed in that place, except per- 
haps at A, on the general map of the pueblo and ruins, east 
of the curacy. There, out of a slightly raised area, now cul- 
tivated, a solitary round pillar protrudes. It is of the size of 
the column in the basement of C I., cluster C. Broken stones 
lie about, and the cultivated patch itself suggests, by its ap- 
pearance, the possibility that a ruined structure once stood on 
the brow of the hill alongside of the cluster A. 

It seems almost impossible for any other buildings to have 
existed to the north of the Rio Mitla, except those mentioned, 
without having left behind very distinct vestiges, — of which, 
however, there is no trace. The surface is generally denuded 
and much eroded ; large spaces show the bare rock ; and under 
such circumstances crumbled walls could not have absolutely 
disappeared, even if the largest portion of their material had 
been used for modern edifices. The stones from the build- 
ings on the platforms B III. and B IV. of cluster B, C II. 
of cluster C, and the destroyed walls of cluster D, would have 



A A' EXCURSION TO MITLA. 29 1 

been ample for what was needed for the construction of the 
Stan-case of A III., group A, and what may have been used 
for the church and curacy. There was even a surplus, which 
u-ent to building the old church, -a long, narrow, low edifice 
of stone, still standing, roofless and abandoned, in the Plaza 
of Mula; or rather, the stones from all the ruins, includino- 
F, first were used for that edifice, and afterwards for the more 
recent structures. 

In the same plasa, in front of the former municipal house 
a round column is planted. It agrees in dimensions with the 
two remaming columns of B III., cluster B, as well as with 
he two round pillars fronting the entrance to the curacy 
It seems reasonable, therefore, to conclude that these three 
monoliths originally came from that buildino- 

Other f,-agments of stone, sculptured plat'es, blocks, and 
slabs are occasionally dug up at a very slight depth, or are 
found lymg loose on the surface of the south side of the river 
where the main pueblo is built. But I have been positively' 
assured that no trace has ever been found of structures on 
hat side beyond F. Similar houses, however, are found, as 
X shall hereafter relate, close by the present villao-e 

The ruins of Lyo-Baa, therefore, consist at present of 
thirty-mne edifices beside the two artificial hills, if we con- 
sider that the wings of A and B are without direct connection 
with each other, and that B I. and B II. of cluster B form one 
body ; that the now vacant platforms once supported houses ■ 
ha the cluster F contains but one mound of worship; and 
that E F and E IF of E, and F I., F IF, F IIF, F IV., and 
i' V. of F, may be regarded as platforms which have once 
supported houses, as is shown in the case of F III For the 
present, I will not attempt to decide for what purposes these 
houses were built; but use the term merely in order to distin- 
guish those structures in which the space enclosed exceeds 



292 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

in area the enclosure, characterizing them by this name as 
differing from the mounds, whose mass appears to be solid 
throughout, or for the most part. 

Turning now to arch i tec t\n-al details, we see that the houses 
of Mitla, or rather Lyo-Baa, are divided into two classes so 
far as material is concerned, houses of adobe and houses of 
stone. 

Houses of Adobe. 

The only specimens which I have found stand on F III, 
(Plate XXV. Fig. 8), and the adobe bricks are evidently made 
of the same sandy soil now about the place, used in the adobe 
houses of Mitla to-day. Neither grass nor straw enters into 
their composition, and they are laid in earth of the same kind. 
The walls have a thickness of 1.17 metres (46 inches) between 
a and b, and of 1.07 metres (42 inches) elsewhere, and are 
coated inside with a thin layer of white plaster, whose com- 
position I could not investigate. They are painted Indian 
red, or rather maroon, which may be the result of change 
in the original hue, as Indian red is elsewhere the prevailing 
color in all the buildings. The corners of the rooms are not 
sharp and angular, but rounded by the plastering, and there 
is no sign of outside coating, or of stone facings. We were 
struck by the extreme narrowness of the room b, while a is 
twice as wide. Originally there seems to have been a com- 
munication between the two, but on the outside the former 
is completely closed. The terrace on which it stands resem- 
bles all the other terraces at Mitla. 

The foundations visible on the top of the mound F IV. 
are too indistinct to admit of any conclusions as to size. 
(See Plate XXV. Fig. 9.) They appear to rest on the layer 
or seam c, which is painted red, showing that it was the upper 
floor of the mound. » 



AN EXCURSION TO Ml TLA. 293 

Houses of Stone. 

These are divided into two classes, — such structures as 
rest on the ground, and such as stand on elevated terraces, — 
the walls of which measure respectively : — 

Of the first class, cluster A, 1.26 metres (49 inches), and 
1.35 metres (53 inches) ; cluster D, 1.17 metres (46 inches), 
and 1.22 metres (48 inches). 

Of the second class, cluster B, 1.17 metres (46 inches), 
1.18 metres (46 inches), 1.07 metres (42 inches), and 1.08 
metres (42 inches). The door-pillars are generally thicker. 
Cluster C, 1.35 metres (53 inches) in several places, and the 
door pillars as thick as 1.75 metres (5 ft. 8 in.). 

There appears, therefore, to be no marked difference in 
the massiveness of construction between the two classes, or 
in the manner of construction. Each wall, whether exterior 
or partition, consists of two distinct parts, the body and the 
protective or decorative facings. The former part is almost 
exactly similar, bulk and material excepted, to the stone walls 
on the west side of the Rio Grande in New Mexico, in the 
ruined pueblos on the Potrero Viejo, Potrero de las Vacas, and 
other places. It consists of broken unhewn stones, imbedded, 
not in mortar, but in earth or clay, and laid in tolerably regu- 
lar courses. The proportion of binding material to the stone 
is sometimes very nearly two to one. The work is better than 
at Pecos, ^ but not nearly so nice as that of the thin walls of 
the two New-Mexico ruins just mentioned. Both faces of the 
wall are more regularly arranged than the inside. 

The outside of these rough piles is faced by an armor of 
stones, originally broken by hammering, and subsequently 
smoothed by friction on those sides which are exposed, or 
which came into contact with the faces of others through 

1 Sec " Report on the Ruins of the Pueblo of Pecos," pp. 55, 56. 



294 archalOLogical institute. 

superposition. Plate XXIV. Fig. 12, shows a pillar in clus- 
ter C according to scale and measurement, which may be re- 
garded as fairly typical. The polished blocks are imbedded on 
their inner sides in the clay of the wall, and are held together 
by mere pressure from above, without any mortar or bind- 
ing substance whatsoever between the faces. The lowest one 
invariably slopes outward, and appears merely to lean against 
the back wall, its top not being fitted so as to join the lower 
surface of the stone immediately above it. Usually the outer 
edges alone touch, but occasionally there are instances where 
both surfaces meet. Where there is no wall behind, the armor 
stands alone, as in Plate XXIV. Fig. 20 ; but the series of 
blocks encasing the passage leading outwards and into the 
lowest gallery forms something like an abutment protecting 
against any sliding of the lowest stones. 

Taking now the facades, we find that their plating presents 
a certain analogy in every building. Each, if we pass over 
the doorways for the present, consists of the following parts, 
beginning at the bottom (Plate XXIV. P"ig. i) : — 

1. Parallelopipeds of smoothed stone, running around the 
whole edifice like a sill, marked a, in the figure. These are 
lower than the floor. 

2. Inward sloping plates, h, which terminate at the level of 
the floor. 

3. A series of parallelopipeds, also running around the 
whole building, and marked c in the figure. This stands 
inside the plane of a. 

Above c a difference begins to show itself between the 
faqade and the corners. (See Plate XXI.) 

The fagade is composed of rectangular fields, ornamented 
by a peculiar mosaic-work of stone. It contains three tiers of 
this ornamentation, in six lengths, three on each side of the 
doorways; there are consequently eighteen such rectangles 




u 

Q 
< 



o 



W 

Q 



AN EXCURSION TO MITLA. 



295 



in this particular front. But while the three tiers seem to be 
general, the three lengths are not everywhere found. Thus, 
in the case of the eastern wing of C, only one appears on each 
side of the doorways. 

The corner begins to slope outward above c, and for the 
fields of mosaic are substituted the large upright flags, or 
rather blocks, /, /, and r, all of which are slightly oblique. 
Above these the layers of oblong stones, g h i, in n 0, and 
s, run round the entire building, i and o corresponding to c, 
and constituting the lower moulding of the second and third 
tiers of decorative panels, as c does of the first. The bands 
d and e, J and k, p and q, belong to corners alone, serving 
as basal plates to /, /, and r, respectively. The uppermost 
layer, s, also serves as a sort of plate, and supports the roof 
along the whole length. 

Two things here become apparent : — 

1. That the rectangular fields of so-called mosaic-work, and 
consequently the entire fronts and sides of each house, are set 
back from the corners. 

2. That the facings slope outwards from the base to the 
top. The highest tier of ornamentation stands farther out 
than the second and third, although the difference is not very 
perceptible. Even at the corner, in a total height of 3.57 
metres (12 ft. 2 in.), the top at s only protrudes 0.30 metre 
(12 inches) beyond the base at b. Compare Plate XXI. 

The mosaic-work is set into frames, and Plate XXIV. Fig. 
2, is intended to represent the mode of construction. Little 
brick-shaped stones of various lengths and widths, sometimes 
squared, but mostly wedge-shaped, are driven into the clay of 
the wall so as to fill the space inside of the frames with a 
geometrical ornamentation, which, although it is not absolutely 
symmetrical, still is intended to be so, and therefore presents 
a striking and pleasing appearance. Each frame has its own 



296 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

pattern, the next one, whether alongside or above, showing 
a different one ; but the patterns do not repeat themselves 
symmetrically or with regularity. The difference, however, 
between the various designS is not so great as to make it 
appear unharmonious, and the "rule of thumb" has been fol- 
lowed with such care in their execution that at first sight, 
and without measurements, it is not noticed how unsymmet- 
rical they actually are. That such is the case, however, can 
easily be inferred from the dimensions on the ground plans. 
Thus, in the cluster B, the western part of the front of B II. 
is 0.95 metre (37 inches) shorter than the eastern. The west 
side of the building falls 0.30 metre (i foot) short of the east 
side. Differences of several centimetres (at 2\ per inch) or 
decimetres (4 inches) are found to be common everywhere 
upon applying the plummet to them. It is known, however, 
that earthquakes arc remarkably frequent in this region, and 
therefore I do not give undue importance to these results of 
my investigation. What appears to me of greater weight is 
the fact disclosed by a frequent application of the square to 
the polished blocks. That instrument fitted only in a minor- 
ity of cases ; in most instances it revealed an irregular devi- 
ation from the right angle, though the lines were evidently 
intended to be perpendicular and horizontal. All this shows 
that the people who reared the houses of Lyo-Baa did their 
work by mere eyesight, and without even the most elementary 
mechanical devices of the art of building. 

The mosaic-work just discussed does not consist of small 
bricks only ; it is sometimes a combination of such small blocks 
with larger plates. This peculiar ornament forms the decora- 
tion closing the gallery of the basement in building C I., clus- 
ter C, This pattern I have found only in that basement, along 
with other designs found also on outside walls. It appears 
from this and from the various rooms of B I,, cluster B, that 



AN EXCURSION TO MI TLA. 



297 



the mosaic-work was used inside of smaller apartments ; the 
larger halls, however, were apparently simply plastered with 
a coat of earth or clay, covering and smoothing the stone- 
work, and over it a thin white layer (of gypsum, perhaps) 
painted Indian red. 

While the inner court of R I. in B shows the decorative mo- 
saic distributed over all its walls and set in smaller frames, the 
inside walls of the small rooms had only a little more than the 
upper half of their height thus adorned. The lower portions 
appear to have been plastered. 

The inside walls of the larger rooms contain only niches, 
one of which, from the north building of cluster C, is given on 
Plate XXIV. Fig. 18. It is 0.46 metre (18 inches) deep, and 
encased or formed by four blocks. The one on the top is 
1. 15 metres (51 inches) long by 0.33 and 0.30 metre (13 and 
12 inches) wide ; the lower one measures 1.17 X 0.19 metres 
(52 X 71 inches) ; the sides are 0.40 metre (16 inches) high, 
tapering upwards. Here we have again the same lack of sym- 
metry already observed. There are three such niches in that 
apartment. 

But one other feature of the walls remains to be described; 
this is the doorways. Three kinds have to be noticed : — 

1. Entrances to basements. 

2. Terminations of inner passages. 

3. Doorways proper. 

The first kind is best illustrated by reference to Plate 
XXIV. Fig. 17; the top is formed by two flags of the roof 
joining close together. It is in order to support these two 
blocks that the round column is placed at the entrance of 
the basement. 

The corridor a (Plate XVIII. B I.) contains the best speci- 
mens of the second kind. Fig. 4, Plate XXIV, represents 
its southern doorway, or entrance from the Hall of Columns. 



298 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

Its height is 1.70 metres (5 ft, 7 in.), its width i.io metres 
(43 inches). Only three blocks of polished stone, two upright 
ones and a horizontal one laid across as lintel, compose the 
frame. These dimensions give an idea of the unsymmetrical 
construction. The door-post a is 0.51 metre (16 inches), the 
post b, 0.60 metre (23^ inches), wide. The lintel c d measures 
2.73 metres (8 ft. 7 in.) in length ; its depth is 1.07 metres (42 
inches) ; the height at c, 0.50 metre (20 inches) ; at d, 0.52 
metre (21 inches). While the end c projects 0.52 metre (21 
inches) beyond the post a, the post b projects 0.06 metre {2\ 
inches) beyond the end d of the lintel. For the other entrance 
into the same passage from the inner court, I refer to Fig. 3 
of the same plate. Although it forms a part of the facing of 
the court, great irregularities are apparent. Thus the top lin- 
tel projects 0.83 metre (33 inches) to the left, and only 0.29 
metre (i rj inches) to the right. The doorway of the passage 
in the south wing of D I., cluster D (Plate XVIII.), resembles 
in its construction the one figured in Plate XXIV. Fig. 4 ; its 
width is 1.27 metre (50 inches). 

The third kind, the large doorways, or main entrances to 
the houses, all open upon the inside courts. I have not found 
a single one in the outer walls. With the exception of the 
two smallest rectangles, A III. of A, and D I. of D, whose 
east and west wings have each but one entrance, all the 
wings, whether connected at the angles or standing separate, 
have always three such doorways close to each other, and 
occupying only approximately the middle of the front. The 
ground plan shows a variation between 0.02 and 2.9 metres 
(i inch and 9 J, feet). These doorways are formed by piers 
of stone and clay, generally thicker than the walls, each 
flanked by an upright slab, and capped by a square block, 
on which rest the ends of enormous lintels. 

Plate XXIV. Figs. 5, 6, 7, represent the great doorway still 



AN EXCURSION TO MI TLA. 299 

standing in the east wing of cluster B, The Hntel is broken, 
or rather rent, but its north end is still perfect. This shows 
the two cavities a a (Fig. 6), 0.19 metre {jh inches) and 0.14 
metre (5^ inches) high, and 0.20 metre (8 inches) wide. I 
found similar cavities also in the terminal faces of other 
lintels. Those still standing are filled with clay or mud of the 
wall, which shows that they were not made for the insertion 
of another stone or hard substance, to be used as a clamp. 
Their purpose may have been to help in the transportation 
of the unwieldy masses. 

The average height of these entrances scarcely exceeds two 
metres (6\ feet), and in many cases is slightly less. The 
width is very irregular, not only throughout the ruins in 
general, but in each building, as the ground plans show. 
Neither is the middle doorway generally wider than the 
others. While there is plainly a desire to be symmetrical, 
it is equally clear that the mechanical means to accomplish 
this were not available. 

The size of the lintels varies greatly. Perhaps the shortest 
is that over the western doorway of the north wing of A III., 
which is 2.7 metres (8 ft. 10 in.) long. But the most re- 
markable group is the one in the east wing of the cluster C, 
given on Plate XXIV. Fig. 22, which is also the one best 
preserved. The stones are huge parallelepipeds, 1.03 metres 
(40 inches) high, 1.52 metres (5 feet) wide, and have, count- 
ing from north to south, respectively, the enormous lengths 
of 7 metres (22 ft. 10 in.), 4.45 metres (14 ft. 7 in.), and 5.93 
metres (19^ feet). Here, the middle one is the smallest, 
and between them is a space of 0.15 metre (6 inches) carefully 
stuffed with clay and small stones. The outer faces of the lin- 
tels are mostly carved in imitation of the geometrical work of 
the mosaic. Plate XXIV. gives some of its leading designs, 
among which is a cross (Fig. 21). The outer pillars are faced 



300 ARCH.-EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

so as to project ; side views of tliese facings are given in 
Plate XXIV. Figs. 13 and 20. 

Not all the lintels are carved on the outside. All have, 
however, an outer projection on the top and sides, like a 
frame. In the north wing- of A III., cluster A, and the north 
and east wings of D III., the recesses thus formed are coated 
with a thin crust of white plaster, on which figures of various 
sorts appear, painted in Indian red. The most interesting 
ones are in the buildings of the church and curac}', but, as 
I have already stated, I could not copy them. Four fac-simile 
copies from D I., cluster D, are given on Plate XXV. Figs. 
I, 2, 3, 4. The first one, now much defaced, was also copied 
by Mr. Miihlenptordt, and his drawing shows that it was origi- 
nally of the same design as those carved on the " sacrificial 
stone " at Mexico, and on the small disks, shaped like mill- 
stones, which I have identified with the temalacatl of aborigi- 
nal sacrifices. The human shapes shown in Figs. 2 and 3 are 
placed as if in procession, with the face downwards, on both 
sides of the first, which occupies very nearly the centre of the 
lintel. These figures, having been originally made on tracing- 
paper, do not, intentionally at least, exaggerate either the per- 
fections or the defects of the originals. It is easy to see how 
rude pictorial art must have been among the builders of Lyo- 
Baa. Still the curacy contains paintings much more elaborate 
and somewhat better executed, for a considerably restored 
copy of which I refer to Mr. Bancroft's "Native Races." ^ 
They resemble, in the head-dresses, some paintings and 
reliefs from Chichen-Itza. But on the whole the designs 

^ Vol. iv. p. 411. The only objection that might be rniscd against the other- 
wise perfect work of Miihlenpfordt is a certain tendency to over restoration. 
This is a danger incurred by every explorer, and hardly any one escapes it. 
Photography itself is perhaps the most deceptive medium for a true representa- 
tion, and never comes up to the standard of an accurate drawing made to scale, 
and without regard to perspective. 



PLATE IW 




AN EXCURSION TO MITLA. 30 1 

appear much more like those on some of the yet unclassified 
paintings, or codices, which Sr. Chavero has boldly, but as 
I believe with sufficient grounds, termed " Mixteco." Ac- 
curate copies of all the paintings of Mitla would be very 
desirable. The heads which I have copied give a very im- 
perfect idea of the head-dresses, etc. of its former people. 
Yet the main value of such aboriginal work consists in what 
it tells us of the manners and customs of their originators, 
and not in any supposed symbolism or imaginary chrono- 
logical record. 

Having thus, as I believe, sufficiently described the walls of 
the houses at Lyo-Baa, we will now explain the construction 
of their roofs, of which traces of two kinds are still extant : — 

1. Roofs over narrow, small apartments. 

2. Roofs over corridors and basements. 

The walls of the northern annex (B I.) appear in places 
to be capped by a mass of stones and earth, on the top of 
which lie fragments of a white concrete. In the lower por- 
tions of this, casings are visible, composed of two upright 
plates resting on the top of the wall, with a third plate laid 
over them. They look strikingly like rude gutters, emptying 
into the rooms, but are not visible outside. When I requested 
Sr. Ouero, a resident of Mitla, who had been exceedingly 
courteous to me, to examine these places with me, he at once 
exclaimed, "Why, this is the roof, and the stone casings are 
the places where they fastened the cross-beams of the ceil- 
ing." It was a well-known fact, and had been already noticed 
by Mr. Miihlenpfordt. On Plate XXIV. Figs. 8 and 9, I give 
a side and front view of this roofing, as still existing on the 
outer wall of the northwest corner of annex B I., cluster B. 
The casings have an aperture of 0.22 metre (9 inches) ; they 
are 0.48 metre (19 inches) deep, and 0.25 metre (10 inches) 
high to the top plate. The side and top stones have a thick- 



302 ARCHAEOLOGICAL LNSTITUTE. 

ness of from 0.06 to 0.08 metre (2^ to 3 inches). The cas- 
ings are about 0.20 metre (8 inches) apart, the interspaces are 
filled with earth and stones, and the same mass is carried up 
0.30 metre (12 inches) abave the upper slab, and on it rests, 
finally, o.io metre (4 inches) of white concrete. The whole 
roof, therefore, including the ceiling, has a thickness of about. 
0.77 metre (30 inches) from the inside ; and the casings ad- 
mitted a beam at least 0.20 metre (8 inches) in diameter, if 
round, as Mr. Muhlenpfordt also infers. The length of the 
beams, if they were laid across the width of the room, was 
therefore about 3 metres (10 feet). The last-named explorer 
suggests that mats were placed on the beams to prevent the 
earth and stones from falling through between the timbers ; 
and a similar statement was made to me at Mitla. 

The roof, or rather ceiling, of the basement is given on 
Plate XXIV. Fig. 15. The east and west gallery is covered 
by ten trapezoidally cut blocks resting on the side and 
front walls, 2.56 metres {j\ feet) long, 0.40 metre (16 inches) 
thick, and, at the bottom, from 0.07 to 1.18 metres (2.8 to 46 
inches) wide. They are set at intervals of from 0.21 to 0.60 
metres (8-^ to 23I inches) ; but the tops, being broader, nearly 
join. Above it earth and stone form, for nearly 2 metres 
(6 feet), the overlying material. A similar roofing covers 
the corridors, but the stones are laid closer, so as to touch. 
Whether or not a coat of concrete capped the whole, I am 
unable to say ; but all the passages are much lower than 
the rooms, and nowhere exceed 2 metres (^\ feet) in vertical 
height. Mr. H. H. Bancroft, speaking of the round columns 
of Mitla, makes the judicious remark, " It seems evident that 
the columns in the southern wing were intended to support 
the roof,"^ but no trace is left of a roof over these structures. 
Burgoa, however, describes it as still existing in 1644, and as 

^ Native Races, vol. iv. p. 401. 



A A" EXCC^RSION TO MI TLA. 303 

composed of heavy slabs of stone resting upon the columns as 
a support.^ The roof of the cluster B, therefore, excepting its 
northern annex, must have been somewhat similar to that over 
the basement and the corridors, made of stone flags fitted so 
as to touch longitudinally, with probably a layer of earth, 
stone, and concrete above. It will also be observed that these 
buildings appear to have been twice as wide as any of the 
others, and many of them three and even four times as wide. 

We now come to the lowest part of the structure, — the 
terraces or platforms on which the houses were erected. 
Only two of the groups were terraced, B and C. 

The four terraces of the four wings of C all contained 
basements, and it is presumable that these were like the one 
still visible in wing C I. The courts usually are more ele- 
vated than the ground outside, possibly on account of their 
being filled up with rubbish. The government has had the 
outside of the clusters cleared, and the terraces strengthened ; 
but the courts, though looking tidy, still contain layers of 
rubbish. 

From the descriptions of Burgoa, we might be led to infer 
that in his time the four terraces of B were also hollowed into 
basements.^ But I am unable to find any vestiges of this, and 

1 Geografica Dcscripcion, etc., cap. liii. fol. 259, vol. ii. : " No se sabe de que 
cantera cortaron unos pilares tan gruesos de piedi^a, que apenas puedeii dos 
hombres abrazarlos con los brazos : estos aunque sin descuello, ni pedestales, 
las canas tan parejas y lisas que admira : son de mas de cinco varas, de una 
piesa : estos Servian de sustentar el techo que unos a otros en lugar de tablas, 
son de losas de mas de dos varas de largo, una de ancho y media de grueso, 
siguiendose los pilares unos a otros para sustentar este peso : las losas son tan 
parejas que sin mezcla, in betumen alguno pararon en las junturas tablas tras- 
lapadas, y todas quatro salas, siendo muy espaciosas estan con un mesmo orden 
cubiertas, con esta forma de bovedage." It may be inferred that the cluster B 
consisted of four wings, all of which had roofs of stone, and perhaps columns. 
The slabs from both sides met on the top of each column, and the size indicated 
by Burgoa indeed favors this view. 

2 Ibid. : " En los quatro altos, que mas del mesmo arte, y tamano de los 
ba.xos." 



304 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

the height of the platforms, which everywhere rest upon the 
bare rock, hardly justifies the assumption. 

In several places the terra^ces have been opened and attempts 
made at excavations, but I have not been able to ascertain 
anything satisfactory in regard to the results. While some 
have told me that they have yielded human bones as well 
as objects of art, others, equally trustworthy, assured me that 
nothing had been found except a solid pile of broken stones 
and some earth. I cannot, so far as I am informed, regard 
them as having been made for sepulchral purposes. They 
were necessary in order to secure level ground. The surface 
where they stand is almost bare rock, and very uneven, and 
the work of digging foundations, or of merely levelling the 
top, alone would have been an enormous task for implements 
of stone, or at best of copper. The Indians, therefore, heaped 
up an artificial foundation, around a gallery built in the form 
of a cross. This foundation, made of rubble and soil, they 
encased with a narrow pavement of polished stone, on which 
rested a facing stretching obliquely up to the sills of the house. 
Specimens of this facing are still visible. An opening to the 
gallery was left on the inner front, towards the court ; and if 
Burgoa is right in stating that there was such a basement in 
each wing, then we might look for vestiges of it in excavations 
beneath the other sides of the cluster C. The building of the 
basements with a solid wall and roofing certainly strength- 
ened the platforms very much, in a country where earthquakes 
are at least of monthly occurrence ; but while this is sufficient 
to account for their construction, I will not say that they were 
made for this purpose only. No traditions record their hav- 
ing been tombs, or collective sepulchres ; but they might, very 
appropriately, have been store-rooms. Still, considering the 
scarcity of soil in the valley of Mitla, the possibility of their 
having been used as a place of deposit for funeral urns (entire 



AiV EXCURSION TO MITLA. 305 

skeletons are hardly probable), and to preserve them, is not 
to be entirely overlooked. It is a great misfortune that no 
detailed reports of the discoveries made around the buildings, 
both outside and inside, have come down to us from earlier 
times. 

As for the object for which the lowest gallery, the one 
extending southward from the basement of C I., cluster C, 
may have been built, I will not venture to express any opin- 
ion. Mr. Miihlenpfordt has left, at Oaxaca, a diagram of this 
passage, made with his customary care ; and I recollect that 
it is represented as ending in the rock towards the centre. 
I am not quite sure whether even this lowest covered way 
would not have come out above the ground, in the centre of 
the court, had it been completed ; but as it is, it appears to 
have remained unfinished. 

The terraces therefore consist, like the houses which they 
support, of a body of rough stones and soil, protected by a pol- 
ished casing. It is highly probable that steps, or stairways, 
must have led up to the doorways ; and the last remnant of 
them, perhaps, is the block still in front of the entrance to the 
basement. It is 0.18 metre (7 inches) thick, rests on two 
upright slabs, and its lower surface is 0.18 metre higher 
than the roof of the lowest gallery. This may possibly sug- 
gest a stairway of stone, each step being 0.18 metre high, 
which at the same time served as roof to the passages 
beneath. 

Clothed in this stony protection, — stone-clad, in fact, — the 
structures of Lyo-Baa were not only weather-proof and fire- 
proof; they were also easily defensible. This was especially 
the case with those clusters which, like A and D, formed a 
connected series of closed rectangles. It is evident that in 
one place, at least, there must have been an entrance ; but 
although the edifices never had any doors with which the 

20 



o 



06 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 



doorways could be closed, this entrance could have been easily 
barred and defended from within. 

I will scarcely venture any suggestions as to the manner 
in which the houses were built. But it is evident that, for 
those groups in which the wings do not stand connected, each 
terrace, with its superstructure, could have been erected by 
itself. It seems very probable, too, that the walls of each 
house had to be carried up from below on all four sides, and 
that the facings were put on and fastened in the still wet mud 
as the body rose. This necessitated a considerable number 
of workmen ; so large, indeed, that I cannot but suspect the 
employment of communal labor. 

The material was certainly obtained in the vicinity. On 
the day I left Mitla I was told that the stones for lintels, etc. 
were procured from a place about 6 kilometres (3I miles) east 
of the village, where traces are still found of aboriginal quar- 
rying. It was too late then to ascertain the truth of this 
statement. But the stone — a rather light, strongly amygda- 
loid rock, breaking easily — at all events comes from the basin 
or the mountain slopes encircling it. Whence the carbonate 
of lime was brought of which the concrete ledges were made, 
I have not been able to learn. 

The transport of the enormous lintels and flags, or slabs, 
could have been easily accomplished by wooden rollers ; and 
the raising of them some six feet above the ground may have 
been effected by an artificial inclined plane, heaped up against 
a wall, as represented in a photograph from Peru, given to me 
by Mr. Squier. 

The inside of these structures must have been little better 
than an obscure cavern. While the height of the apartments 
nowhere exceeds 4 metres (13 feet), and in most instances falls 
below that, the best illuminated building shows a proportion 
of width to length as i to 4. The average proportion, how- 



AN EXCURSION TO ATI TLA. 307 

ever, is i to 7. Into these corridors, rather than rooms, light 
was admitted from one side only ; and the aperture, or three 
apertures, for this purpose were in no case higher than one 
half of the " hall," while their width nowhere exceeded one 
fourth of the entire length. The " Hall of Columns," owing 
to its breadth, was perhaps the best lighted of all; yet the 
three doorways together occupy but one sixth of its length, 
and their combined area only one eleventh of the surface of 
the entire front. If the three doorways were distributed 
along the front at greater distances, even then, owing to 
their inconsiderable height, the interior would still be dimly 
lighted. In their crowded condition, the so-called "palaces" 
of Mitla were no better illuminated than the so-called " sub- 
terraneous chambers " of their basements. Built without the 
knowledge of mechanical contrivances, ornamented by mere 
" rule of thumb," imperfectly ventilated, and correspondingly 
dark, they appear only as the barbaric effort of a barbarous 
people. 

The " mounds of worship" scarcely need any further men- 
tion. While I believe that they are much disfigured, it is 
impossible to say how far they may have been reduced in 
size. Neither can I, as yet, offer any conjecture in regard to 
the fragments E III. and F I., Plate XXV., but shall have 
to return to this feature again, when speaking of the ruins 
of Gui-y-baa, near Tlacolula. 

From what I have said about the appearance of the ruins, 
and the care now taken of them, it is evident that few if 
any objects of antiquity can be found on the surface. Small 
bits of obsidian are occasionally met with among the build- 
ings, but they are scarce. So is pottery, of which I have 
seen only ashy-gray fragments. But the walls and rooms, 
the courts, and even the tops of the walls, are strewn with a 
profusion of fiint chips, as well as large cores. Some of the 



3o8 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

latter are cones of 0.15 metre (6 inches) in diameter at the 
base, and have a vertical axis of the same length. The flint 
is yellowish brown, veined with green and yellow, and very 
rarely with red. The cotors are bright and beautiful. It 
seems as if this material had been largely used for imple- 
ments. 

Little statuettes of stone, clay heads, and "amulets" are also 
dug out from the soil. The last, of which I secured two, rep- 
resent human bodies, squatting or cross-legged, with a flat, 
smooth back, and are perforated at the edges, so that a cord 
might be passed through the holes. One of the two is of 
white alabaster ; the other, of a partly translucent spinach- 
green stone, answering, of course, to the general term " chal- 
chihuitl." They strikingly reminded me of similar appendages 
of alabaster, worn in secret by the Queres Indians of New 
Mexico. 

In the corral of D. Jose Maria Monterubio, was dug out, at 
a small depth, the stone plate which is given on Plate XXV. 
Fig. 5. It measures 0.51 X 0.41 metre (20 X 16 inches), 
is 0.09 metre (3I inches) thick, and the carvings are raised 
0.03 metre (i 5- inches). This sculpture is now at the city of 
Oaxaca. 

I was able to make but slight ethnological and linguistic 
researches. It is almost needless to state that the present 
organization of the Tzapoteco Indians is upon the modern 
system, and that communal tenure of lands is abolished. 
Still, a vestige of the latter is left. If a person dies with- 
out children, his real estate reverts to the pueblo for dis- 
tribution. I did not find this custom among the Nahuatl of 
Cholula. 

The great reputation of the ruins of Lyo-Baa is due in part 
to the supposition that, in respect to their construction and 



AN EXCURSION TO MI TLA. 309 

size, they stand quite alone in the region about Oaxaca. But 
I was very soon informed that the immediate vicinity of the 
village contained many aboriginal remains, although they are 
not as well preserved. My attention was particularly called 
to the " Fuerte," a high rock standing about 4 kilometres (2I 
miles) west or west-northwest of the place ; and it was stated 
that the " citadel of Mitla," with long stone parapets, was still 
to be seen on its summit. Again, about the same distance in 
an opposite direction, the hacienda of Xaga was said to con- 
tain subterranean chambers. I accordingly went to both 
places, visiting the former on the 24th, the latter on the 25th 
of June. The ruins at Xaga being less considerable, I will 
treat of them first. 

The hacienda lies towards the end of the basin, and the 
road to it is almost level ; and there is more fertile soil lying 
alongside of it than in the western portion. It was evidently, 
with the south, the " garden spot " of the valley. About 500 
metres (i of a mile) beyond the most eastern houses, I saw, 
in a field to the north of the road, low mounds of stones, 
indicating terraces. Their disposition is shown in Plate 
XXVI. Fig. I. The height nowhere exceeds i metre (3 
feet) ; a distinctly shows a level platform ; the heaps b and c 
are merely mounds of broken stones ; d, an almost obliterated 
knoll. The whole forms a rectangle with four disconnected 
wings, strikingly recalling, in shape and size, the largest clus- 
ters of Lyo-Baa. Half-way between Mitla and Xaga, in a 
field sloping down to the road from the south, is visible a 
concavity surrounded by low embankments, with very low 
vestiges of adobe walls. (See Plate XXVI. Fig. 5.) The 
whole recalls the usual rectangle enclosing a court, and the 
walls even suggest two connected houses, as at F III. Much 
pottery, gray and red, was found scattered about both places ; 
also flint chips. 



3IO ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

No traces of buildings or terraces are visible on the gentle 
swell which is now completely occupied by the edifices of the 
hacienda of Xaga.^ But beneath the principal houses a gal- 
lery in the shape of a cross^'has been found, a ground plan and 
section of which are contained in Plate XXVI. Figs. 2 and 3. 
By comparing it with the basement of C I., the analogy, if not 
identity, of plan becomes striking. But these so-called under- 
ground chambers are not subterranean, as their floor, at the 
western entrance, is at the level of the centre of the court. 
It is therefore a true basement, as at Mitla. But while the 
walls at Mitla are composed of mosaic panels, at Xaga plates 
of carved stones (Plate XXVI. Fig. 4), containing the two 
ornaments represented, decorate the inner faces on their up- 
per half. The lower half is made of stones striped gray and 
white, like wainscoting. The ground of the carvings is Indian 
red ; the ornaments are raised, and have the natural color of 
the stone. In 1879 excavations were made in the centre of 
the cross ; but only earth was found. Fourteen years ago 
part of the inner facing on the southern gallery was opened, 
and it is said skeletons were met with ; but no chambers 
were revealed, and the rest of the mass appeared to be solid 
throughout. 

I could not ascertain that any traditions remain of the for- 
mer existence of houses on the basement of Xaga. Neither 
could I obtain any information from land titles. Still, it is 
more than likely that a superstructure once stood on it. The 
hacienda formerly belonged to the Dominican monastery of 
Oaxaca, and the records of that convent, if accessible, must 
contain information about it, as well as about Mitla in gen- 

1 The word " Xaga " was interpreted to me as " el rincon de los pastes," 
the edge, or limit, or corner, of the pastures. I give all these definitions as I 
received them, without vouching for their absolute correctness. I had no time 
to become acquainted with Tzapoteco. 



AN EXCURSION TO MI TLA. 311 

eral. Similar " casemated " terraces are met with in the 
neighborhood, at various places, showing that the basement at 
Lyo-Baa is not an exceptional feature, but, on the contrary, 
quite common in aboriginal architecture there. 

The " Fuerte," called in the Tzapotecan idiom "Jio," that 
is, height or eminence,^ has been explored and described by 
Captain Dupaix. It is a bare and almost treeless rock, about 
150 metres (500 feet) high, which rises from the west and 
northwest in almost perpendicular crags, while on the north 
the ascent, though difficult, is possible ; on the east and south 
there is a gradual slope. But there is very little soil, even on 
those declivities, and what vegetation exists is low and scrub- 
by. The top resembles an irregular foot-print, slightly con- 
vex, and rising generally to the north-northwest. Its greatest 
length is about 350 metres (1160 feet), its greatest width 
about 1 50 metres (500 feet) ; but I give these figures only as 
approximations obtained by pacing off the distance. The sur- 
face is partly covered by thorny shrubs, sometimes difficult to 
traverse. The annexed plan (Plate XXIII. Fig. 6) is there- 
fore not perfectly reliable, except for the dimensions of the 
buildings. This top plateau is surrounded by a strong wall of 
dry stone, piled up apparently without mortar, and built all 
around above the precipice, except on the western side, where 
inaccessible places are left unprotected, and short slopes are 
made perpendicular by walling up from beneath (Plate XXVI. 
Fig. 9). The height of the wall, as well as its width, varies ; 
but it appears most considerable on the southeast, where, as 
will be observed, it is also double, with something like salients 
and re-entering angles. The outer wall is lower than the 

1 From " Jia," high. Dupaix has also given a map of the " Fuerte," which 
is in vol. iv. Plates XL. and XLI. of Kingsborough. It varies from mine, of 
course, though not in very essential particulars. 



312 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

inner; both are 3 metres (io-| feet) high, and 2.5 metres (9 ft. 
7 in.) wide at the top (Fig. 8). As seen on ascending, this 
double wall presents a very striking and formidable appear- 
ance. The entrance through the outer circumvallation is 
effected by an opening 3.4 metres (11 feet) wide; thence the 
path turns to the west about 75 metres (250 feet) between 
the two lines of defence to a similar opening, through which 
the top platform is reached. This arrangement is thoroughly 
Indian, and was found by Cortes to exist in the great wall of 
Tlaxcala, and in the circumvallations of Quauhquechollan.^ 

The top supports the buildings G I., G II., and G V., all on 
platforms, and the ruined mounds G III., G IV,, and G VI. ; 
traces of structures are also seen at G VII. Red and gray 
pottery, flint chips, and some little obsidian, are scattered 
about ; and besides, I found many broken grinding-slabs, 
metlatl, of the concave variety already described.^ These 
lay mostly about the building G I., on the mound G III., 
and at G VII., which speaks strongly in favor of the sup- 
position that the houses were dwellings. 

The building G I. is a rectangle of adobe, whose walls have 
an average width of 1.05 metres (41 inches), the bricks meas- 
uring 0.33 X 0.15 X 0.05 metre (13X6X2 inches) each. 
The adobe reaches only to a height of 2.02 metres (6 ft. 7 in.) ; 
above, it is capped by stone. The western wall has the door- 
ways from south to north respectively 3.06, 2.08, and 2.09 
metres (9 ft. 9 in,, 6 ft. 8 in., and 6 ft. 9 in.) wide. I could 
not discover any lintels or posts. The building is divided 
transversely into two rooms of unequal size, and there may be 
at « a door in the partition wall, also an outer door at b, but 
both are problematical. It will be observed that the propor- 

1 Compare Carta Segunda, pp. 15, 50. Also, Art of War and Mode of War- 
fare, etc., pp. 143, 144. 
2 See antea, p. 97. 



AjV excursion to mi TLA. 



31, 



tions of width to length are as i to 2, and that the outer wall 
rests on a foundation of adobe, projecting 0.36 metre (14 
inches), and covered with the usual white floor. Beneath it 
the terrace extends 0.49 metre (20 inches) still farther to the 
east, made as usual of broken stones. 

Seventeen metres (55 feet) southwest of G I. is the low 
stone terrace G II., nearly square, the northern third of which 
is taken up by two narrow adobe houses, joined longitudinally, 
communicating by the door in the partition, the northern wall 
closed, and the southern half obliterated. This group ap- 
pears very similar to the one on the south side of the Rio 
Mitla, and the proportion of width to length in the rooms is 
I to 8. The southern portions of the terrace are bare. 

The building G V., constructed on the brink of the preci- 
pice, shows three rooms, apparently unconnected, with adobe 
walls. The northwestern one is 13.4 X 3.05 metres (43 ft. 
7 in. X 10 ft. 5 in.), the two others each 6X 3-6 metres 
(19I X ii| feet). 

The mounds are only ruined heaps of broken stones and 
earth, and none of them suggested to me the idea of a mound 
of worship, but rather of elevated platforms. While there is 
much in the architecture of Jio that resembles L} o-Baa, there 
are also discrepancies. The total absence of large stone lin- 
tels may be accounted for, perhaps, by the difficulty of carry- 
ing such weights to the great height, whereas adobe is easily 
transportable. The roofs are all gone ; but since we know 
that they used timber for such purposes, it is possible that 
lintels and posts in this case were also of wood.^ 

Traversing the entire length of the plateau, we reach a 
third egress, from which a steep winding path descends to 
the foot of the bluff on the west side, a fertile level field, 
called " Llano del Fuerte," plain of the fort. Judging from the 

1 Pomar, Relacioit de Tczcoco, MS., quoted a«^f«, p. 127. 



314 archjEolocical institute. 

objects found there, as stated to me, this area was the former 
garden plot of the people who inhabited the cliff. Water 
also is near at hand. The height of Jio, therefore, recalled to 
my mind forcibly the old pueblo of Aqiu, or Pecos, in New- 
Mexico, which I described in the first volume of the papers 
of the Archaeological Institute.^ 

Common belief ascribes to Jio the role of a " citadel " or 
place of refuge for the population of Lyo-Baa, and, as usual, 
supposes a subterranean communication. The latter story is 
found everywhere about Indian ruins, from New Mexico to 
Peru. The former is not impossible, though, from the strong 
defensive character of the houses at Mitla, there was no abso- 
lute need for it. The distance separating the two points is 
considerable, and the space between was certainly unoccu- 
pied in former times. Jio appears therefore rather as an 
independent pueblo, permanently occupied during aboriginal 
times. 

I left Mitla and its kind people reluctantly on the 28th of 
June, and stopped on the way at Tlacolula. There, reliable 
authority informed me that the proper name for the site was 
Gui-y-Baa, village of the grave or burial-place ; and that the 
ancient settlement, now ruined, was situated about 2 kilo- 
metres (i^ miles) northwest of the town, and that it still 
contained extensive ruins. With two trustworthy guides I 
started for the site without a moment's delay. 

Following up the course of the Rio Tlacolula, we soon 
reached a very broken country. Rocky and barren hills rise 
very steeply close to each other, and around and between 

1 Report on the Ruins of the Pueblo of Pecos, Plate I. ; also pp. 89, 90. It 
also suggested to me the imposing Potrero Viejo, on which the former pueblo of 
Cochiti stood, with the garden plots of its dwellers, hundreds of feet beneath, in 
the narrow Canada. 



AN EXCURSION TO MITLA. 315 

them are little patches of corn. The right bank of the river 
is level and appears fertile, and on it stand the remains of 
four very large rectangles, exactly similar in shape and dis- 
position to the terraces of Mitla, with the walls of one house 
still partly erect. These are as thick, or nearly so, as those 
of Lyo-Baa, and made, like them, of stones and earth ; but 
they are dismantled, and only scattered blocks, with smooth 
surfaces and sharp edges, attest the former presence of 
"facings." The terraces are partly opened, revealing the 
existence of basements. 

Some distance beyond the river a sharp rocky crest sweeps 
around from the northwest to the south. Its top, and some 
of the lower crags, show traces of large walls, like those of 
Jio, but they are detached, and seem to have been made for 
the protection of special places only. Below these walls, on 
the northwestern spur and western slope of the crest, ex- 
tensive ruins cluster together, of which the principal part is 
given on Plate XXVI. Fig. 10. H I., H II., and H III. 
stand on the brink of a very steep declivity, at whose bot- 
tom is the water cut-oif, "toma de aqua," whence the chan- 
nel runs out that furnishes water to the town of Tlacolula. 
The Tzapotecos call the place on the river Rutom, " water- 
gap," and the crest above it, Yah'-zib-Rutom, "hill of the 
water-gap." The ruins, however, are those of Gui-y-Baa. 

The similarity of the ruins to those of Mitla is very ap- 
parent, and needs no comment. The walls are dismantled, 
but at a (H IV.) is a large polished block, 2.71 X 1.36 X 0.60 
metres (8 ft. 10 in. X 53 X 24 inches), strikingly resembling 
the lintels of Lyo-Baa. The walls are on an average 1.15 
metres (45 inches) thick. At H I. and H III. the three 
doorways are still standing, and the proportion between the 
width and length of the four rooms is as i to 7 on an aver- 
age. The houses stand on stone esplanades ; but although 



3l6 ARCH^OLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

the courts are deep, I could not, owing to the rubbish, dis- 
cover any trace of basements. 

There are other similar rectangles scattered around, or 
rather crowded in about the two groups figured. These other 
remains I had no time to measure ; and I was able to survey 
the rest of the cluster only in a rather superficial manner. 
Still, this cluster is more than commonly interesting. 

H V. and H VI. are rectangles composed of ruined ter- 
races, each of which is about 26 metres (85 feet) long. H VIL 
is a much disturbed mound of gray adobe. At H VIII. again 
are two terraces of stone, each 30 and 34 metres (98 and 
104 feet) in length, with a small adobe knoll between them. 
H IX. is a large mound of broken stones, 10 metres (33 feet) 
high, and now polygonal, if not almost circular, at its base. 
We recognize with ease features analogous to those of the 
clusters E and F of Lyo-Baa. But there are indications 
which go much further. Thus, the small heap of adobe at c, 
externally shapeless, has been opened, and reveals a room in- 
side, with an entrance to the east and a stone lintel. At a, 
on the top of H IX., there is a chamber, apparently sunk 
about 2.5 metres (8 feet) beneath the actual top, 10 metres 
(33 feet) by 5 metres (16J feet), and built of adobe bricks, 
measuring 0.25 X 0.12 X 0.05 metre (10 X 5 X 2 inches). I 
cannot be positive whether this chamber (Plate XXVI. Fig. 
1 1) was intended to be entirely beneath the top of the mound 
or not ; but part of it certainly is, and this suggests the pos- 
sibility of several tiers, or stories, in these elevated truncated 
pyramids, and a distinction between them and the broad and 
composite mounds of Cholula, and recalls Papantla, or Xochi- 
calco. Finally, at b, on mound H VIL, the steps are visible, 
represented in Fig. 12. While the stones composing it are 
smoothed and fitted together, and the work is therefore bet- 
ter executed than are the rude stairs of the great mound of 



AN EXCURSION TO MITLA. 



1^1 



Cholula, it is interesting to note that in both cases the stones 
are coated with the same white concrete. All that I found 
of this graded ascent is given on the plate. 

Many antiquities have been found at Gui-y-Baa ; stone 
statues have been exhumed ; grinding-slabs and pins were 
picked up on the surface. The fragments of pottery are iden- 
tical with those at Mitla. But the interior of the ruins is not 
easy to penetrate, on account of the dangerous thorns bris- 
tling in the thickets which overgrow the courts. 

With my superficial examination of the ruins near Tlacolula 
I closed my work and my stay in that valley, returning to the 
city of Oaxaca the same evening. An extensive field of inves- 
tigations still lay before me, but I lacked strength to under- 
take more. However, the temptation to at least visit the 
ruins of Monte-Alban, which crown the northern summits of 
the Espinazo, above the city to the west, was too great to 
resist, and I therefore toiled up with an Indian on the 2d of 
July. Wading through the shallow Rio Atoyac, I passed the 
little pueblos of San Juan and San Martin, beyond which 
begins the ascent of the rocky, treeless slopes, whose vege- 
tation consists exclusively of low shrubs and weeds. On 
foot, the crest is reached in about an hour, and we find it to 
consist of an irregular triangle, open to the south, in which 
direction a deep barranca empties into the valley. The slopes, 
however steep, show in places very fertile black loam, which 
is now carefully cultivated in patches, almost like terraces, 
between which the rock protrudes in ledges. The top is 
mostly barren on the west side, the crest is narrow, and runs 
out into two points. Each of these points is crowned by 
ruined mounds of broken stones, apparently walled up, be- 
tween which are traces of old foundations ; but those of the 
centre are modern, and belong to the former Rancho Viejo. 



3l8 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

A wider ridge connects this western portion with the east- 
ern, which is sHghtly depressed, and has upon it architectural 
remains (Plate XXVI. Fig. 13). Among them is a rectangle, 
composed of embankments of broken stones and earth around 
a depressed court. The average width of these embankments 
is 5 metres (16 feet), and this court measures 17 X 15.5 me- 
tres (56 X 51 feet). At f is the broken lintel shown in Fig. 
14, and in front of it stand, planted upright, two door-caps. 
By comparing measurements, the similarity of both lintel and 
caps to those of Lyo-Baa becomes evident. Much rude stone- 
work protrudes on one side of this rectangle, and although I 
cannot decide how much of it may be in situ, and how much 
has been put where it is by crumbling and slides, it struck 
me that the blocks are much larger than those at Mitla. 

I have endeavored to map down the northern, or rather 
north-northeastern, half of the great eastern side of the trian- 
gle of Monte-Alban. Its direction, as far as mapped, is north- 
northeast to south-southwest ; beyond it the crest bends around 
in a curve to the eastward, and finally terminates in an abrupt 
point, not unlike a peak, on account of a mound or system of 
mounds crowning its top. The plan is not exact, and is 
intended to give only an approximate idea. It rained nearly 
all the time ; the soil, wherever it was not stony, was a deep 
black mud, and most of the mounds are so thickly overgrown 
with trees and thorny shrubs, including cactuses, that they 
can only be ascended by the aid of the "machete," and 
vigorous cutting. 

This northern half forms a rectangular depressed basin, 
now converted into a field, about 275 metres (900 feet) from 
north-northeast to south-southwest, and 120 metres (300 feet) 
from west-northwest to east-southeast. In the centre are two 
mounds, completely overgrown and hardly accessible. Still, 
enough can be seen to show that they were originally artifi- 



AN EXCURSION TO MITLA. 



319 



cial, and are made of broken stones and earth. It is probable 
that the larger one is in fact two distinct knolls, each one 
nearly round, like the smaller; but now they form a single 
mass of foliage, with a depression in the middle. On the 
west of this depressed field a bulwark or parapet of stone- 
work extends for the whole length, protecting it on the side 
of the barranca. Three rectangular mounds, e, e, e, surmount 
this embankment at irregular intervals, and these, as well as 
the embankment itself, bear traces of foundations which look 
like those of houses. On the opposite side the ground is also 
slightly higher than the field ; it is not tilled, and supports a 
system of stone mounds of considerable size, recalling F at 
Mitla, and the similar group at Tlacolula. These mounds 
show hardly any trace of buildings. The whole row lines 
the brink of the eastern declivity, which there is steep, and 
interrupted by cultivable terraces. On this side the mounds 
present a terraced appearance, as if built in stages ; but while 
I feel convinced of this, the possibility of these steps being 
the result of decay is not to be overlooked. 

The field which forms the northeastern angle of the ridge 
lies below the raised platform abed, which adjoins it on the 
west, and which completely encloses the central depression 
to the northwest. This platform measures 75 X 94 metres 
(246 X 308 feet) ; the slope ab \s short and gradual; c d, deep 
and almost vertical, crowned by a wall of broken stones, 
1.70 metres (about 5I feet) thick, and broken down in many 
places ; and b d appears to be walled up from about 3 me- 
tres (10 feet) below to the top. The platform dominates the 
northern spurs of the Espinazo, a lower series of ridges and 
crests, with deeply sunken vales and numberless cultivated 
terraces bearing traces of aboriginal mounds. Beyond it, and 
in the west, extends the valley of Cuilapa, with the former 
range of the Mixteco. 



320 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

On the northwestern corner of this platform rises a terrace, 
in which several excavations have been made, revealing, how- 
ever, only a mass of broken stones and earth. On it arc stone 
foundations showing two walls, one inside of the other at a 
distance of 1.2 metres (47 inches), the outer being visible for 
a length of 6.8 X 10.2 metres (22 X 33 feet). Their width 
is 1.25 metres (49 inches). The mound B, overgrown on 
the sides, is 1 1 metres (36 feet) long, and bears on its top a 
rectangular structure, of which there is but a trace left. It 
measures 7 X 8^- metres (23 X 27^ feet). A tunnel has been 
driven through this mound, revealing a core of earth or clay, 
surrounded by stones and earth. Whether this core is natural 
or not, I am unable to say. 

On the opposite side (south-southwest) of the middle area 
begins a grassy level, in which is a sunken, field measuring 
^6 X C-iJ metres (249 X 220 feet). It is flanked by heavily 
wooded mounds, one of which shows a completely ruined 
stairway on its northern slopes, presenting now the appear- 
ance only of a mass of broken stones. Beyond it, as already 
stated, the ridge bends to the eastward, crowned at intervals 
by mounds and terraces, and terminating in a sharp peak, 
also bearing ruins. 

It appears from this that most of the structures of Monte- 
Alban occupy the sharp crests and summits of the northern 
termination of the Espinazo.-^ On the slopes there seem to 
be very few remains. But these slopes, and the lower levels 
in general, consist frequently of a very fertile black loam ; 
and it seems as if many of these patches had been for- 
merly cultivated, as they still are, in the manner which Bur- 
goa speaks of as the Mixteco custom of tilling the slopes in 

1 For maps of Monte-Alban, I refer to Bancroft, Native Races, vol. iv. p. 378 ; 
Garcia, in Appendi.x to Murguia, Esiadistica, etc., p. 270. The French Commis- 
sion has also, I believe, published something about it. 



AiV EXCURSION TO MI TLA. 32 I 

narrow bands or terraces, "like steps supported by stones."^ 
This author distinctly uses the term " camellones," or gar- 
den plots. 

Everything at Monte-Alban bears the character of works 
made for defence, and produces the impression that it was 
a pueblo built on the highest, and therefore most secure 
place, where three valleys might be watched at the same 
time, — Cuilapa, Etla, and as far as Santa Maria del Tule 
towards TIacolula. Owing to the peculiar fertility of the 
soil, the place could be permanently occupied by a consider- 
able Indian population, and that part of it at least deUneated 
on the map looks very much like embankments supporting 
houses, and surrounding and protecting interior gardens. I 
have not been able, as yet, to find any reference to Monte- 
Alban in the older authors, and it is not even certain whether 
the Tzapotecos or the Mixtecos held it at the time of the 
Conquest. I therefore confine myself to the notice here 
given, and thoroughly agree with the opinion of M. Char- 
nay, that Monte-Alban is "one of the most precious remains" 
of antiquity in the State of Oaxaca. 

While there are, at first sight, considerable differences 
between Monte-Alban and the various ruins of the valley to 
TIacolula, many analogous, if not identical, features also pre- 
sent themselves. Thus, the walls are of broken stones and 
earth only, and in some cases are laid almost dry. Again, 
we find the high mound of stone, and, what is chiefly inter- 
esting, the lintel made of one huge piece of rock, and the 
correspondingly heavy caps surmounting the door-pillars. It 
remains a question yet to be investigated, how far the seem- 
ing differences may possibly be the result of local causes 
alone. 

Positions naturally well suited for defence, and rendered 

^ Gcografica Descripcioii, etc., vol. i. cap xxiii. fol. 128, 129. 

21 



322 



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 



Still stronger artificially, are frequent in the State of Oaxaca. 
It would even seem as if what might be termed " military 
positions " had been originally selected for settlement. But 
the question here arise^ whether these fortifications were 
separate from the permanent village, or whether they always 
surrounded and protected it. We have distinct traces on 
this continent of two classes of defensive works ; namely, 
fortified pueblos, and places of refuge, strong by nature 
and artificially strengthened besides, situated within conve- 
nient reach of defenceless settlements. I am not competent 
to decide to which class each of the three places visited — 
Jio, Gui-y-Baa, and Monte- Alban — belongs. In regard to 
the second one, I must here state a singular feature. The 
arched crest or ridge on whose slope the pueblo is built is 
deeply rent and cleft ; but all these fissures are walled up, as 
also such spaces on the summit as would be accessible by 
scaling. All these defensive works are higher than the 
houses. I have also been assured that the summit of the 
ridge is not built over, and that the only trace of man's work 
there is a large cistern or pond. The walls, therefore, while 
they do not afford much shelter to the pueblo, were certainly 
not constructed to protect a settlement higher up. They 
look much rather like defences around a place of refuge, 
to which the population of Gui-y-Baa might resort if hard 
pressed in their strong houses, carrying with them food 
ample for a temporary stay ; or perhaps food was stored 
there in advance, while the pond or cistern would always 
insure an abundant supply of water. 

This cursory examination of aboriginal remains in the val- 
ley of Tlacolula as far as Xaga has, I believe, revealed one 
singular fact. It is the existence, not of large villages, but of 
small groups of large houses, irregularly and promiscuously 
scattered. Wherever the group or cluster comprises a large 



AN EXCURSION TO Ml TLA. 



;23 



number of buildings, as at Lyo-Baa and Gui-y-Baa, mounds 
of worship are added to them. Jio has no clear trace of any ; 
neither has Xaga, nor the clusters between it and Mitla. 
It is easy to see that the remarkable buildings at Mitla 
do not represent an exceptional feature, but are a type of 
architecture common to the whole valley ; only they are in 
a better state of preservation. Their ornamentation is very 
striking, and highly creditable to a people possessing such 
limited mechanical contrivances. It also served the practical 
purpose of making the walls weather-proof, and perhaps also 
siege-proof. The mosaic-work seems to have been introduced, 
not merely from a purely decorative motive, but on account 
of its being an easier method of construction than plating 
long fronts with massive slabs. 

The question as to the object for which the houses of Lyo- 
Baa at Mitla were originally built, has always been a source 
of lively conjecture. We have already seen that they are by 
no means exceptional. The equally large buildings of Gui-y- 
Baa were, as concurrent tradition states, the dwellings of the 
people. Grinding-slabs have been found there in numbers, as 
well as in the houses upon Jio, while at Mitla such remains 
have long since disappeared. 

The earliest mention of Mitla known to me is from the pen 
of Motolinia, who writes that, when Fray Martin de Valencia 
went to Tehuantepec (about 1533) with some companions, 
" they passed through a pueblo which is called Mictlan, signi- 
fying hell in this language, where they found some edifices 
more worth seeing than in any other parts of New Spain. 
Among them was a temple of the demon, and dwelling of its 
servants {mmistros), very sightly, particularly one hall made 
of something like lattice-work. The fabric was of stone, with 
many figures and shapes ; it had many doorways, each one of 



324 ARCH.-EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

three great stones, two at the sides and one on the top, all 
very thick and wide. In these quarters there was another 
hall containing round pillars, each one of a single piece, and 
so thick that two men cduld barely embrace one of them ; 
their height might be five fathoms. Fray Martin said that 
on this coast people would be found handsomer and of greater 
ability than those of New Spain." ^ This statement has been 
copied since, with slight alterations, by the Franciscans Men- 
dieta^ and Torquemada.^ 

We easily recognize in the above description the cluster B 
at Mitla, with the Hall of Columns. It cannot escape our 
notice, furthermore, that this cluster appears to be excep- 
tional, not only on account of the pillars, which the greater 
width of the apartments rendered necessary to support the 
roof, but mostly by reason of its northern annex, B I. It 
almost involuntarily suggests the idea of a public building, 
containing both halls for public gatherings and quarters for 
certain officers. In this respect it fully corresponds to the 
idea of the Tecpan, or official house, among the Nahuatl. 
This would give us, for Lyo-Baa, three types of buildings, — 
the mound of worship, the official house, and the common 
dwelling, — corresponding to the Nahuatl Teo-calli, Tecpan, 
and Calli. At Gui-y-Baa we have the first and last kind 
clearly defined, and, if size were any criterion, we might seek 
for the Tecpan about H III. or H IV. on Plate XXVI. 

The confused and diffuse tales of Burgoa, who visited Mitla 
about 1644, have made of Lyo-Baa a sanctuary, a residence 
exclusively of priests, and an official burial-place.* That some 
of the buildings were made for purposes of worship is very evi- 
dent ; but we see also that each mound has in connection with 

1 Flistoria, etc., trat. iii. cap. v. p. 170. 

'^ Hist. Ecdesidstica Indiana, lib. iv. cap. x. pp. 395, 396. 

3 Monar cilia, etc., lib. iii. cap. xxix. p. 312. 

* Gcogr. Dcscripcion, vol. ii. cap. liii. fol. 25S-261. 



■ajv excursion to mitla. 325 

it structures that doubtlessly served the purpose of dwell- 
ings, and the same can be seen at Gui-y-Baa. There is no 
need, therefore, of looking for priestly abodes among the other 
edifices. In regard to interments, none have as yet been 
found in any of the excavations, and unless the basements 
formerly contained the bodies of the dead, of which I have 
met with no tradition, there appears to me very slight pros- 
pect of finding any. In case, however, the floors, when 
opened, should disclose human bones, it would simply still 
further confirm the suggestion of their having been dwellings, 
provided Herrera is reliably informed.-^ 

From the shape and size of the single apartments, it can 
easily be seen that house life among the Tzapoteco Indians 
was, in aboriginal times, different from what it is now. The 
long and narrow halls were not fit for daily abodes, and seem 
only to have been used as shelters at night and during bad 
weather, or as retreats for women and children in case of 
attack. As in New Mexico and at Tezcuco, the sexes slept in 
separate rooms ;2 so that every cluster or rectangle of houses 
could accommodate a large number. The cooking as well as 
most of the other work was done outside, and the stores were 
kept either in the basements or in one of the wings. Here we 
find again, therefore, the division into three distinct sections, 
characteristic of as many branches of daily life ; — the dormi- 
tory (equivalent to the Teopantzintli, or Sala, of the Nahuatl, 
Ma-itsha-ayunash of the Mije) ; the court, used as kitchen 
(Tezcalli of the Nahuatl, and the Mije Ma-utz-mai) ; and the 
storeroom (Concalli, or Zash, of the latter idiom). 

We are told by Herrera that the Tzapoteco were organized 

1 Historia General, etc., dec. iii. lib. iii. cap. xv. p. loi. 

2 Pomar, Relacion de Tezcoco, MS. Herrera, Hist. General, dec. iii. lib. iii. 
cap. xii. p. 97 : " Adonde los Caciques tenian sus palacios, con apartamientos 
para las mugeres." 



326 ARCHJEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 

by kins, localized in barrios or quarters/ and we know that 
they had, and still have in part, communal land-tenure. The 
large buildings, therefore, in the valley of Tlacolula, imply a 
communal organization ami a clustering for shelter by sexes, 
differing from the communal life of the Indian in other re- 
gions only by the exigencies of another climate and of varying 
natural resources. 

Ad. F. Bandelier. 
Highland, III., February 9, 1882. 



^ Hist. General, etc., dec. iii. lib. iii. cap. xiii. p. 100: " Sacaban para la 
guerra la gente por Barrios, i la guiaban los capitanes." This is of the Mixtecos, 
but the same author distinctly states (p. 100) : " Lo sobredicho es quanto al Reino 
Misteco ; queda aoro lo que toca a la Provincia de los (Japotecos, i Cuioatecos, 
i otros, cuias costumbres casi son las mismas en general, i en todo lo demas." 



University Press : John Wilson & Son, Cambridge. 



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